Mandago faces Buzeki in Jubilee Uasin Gishu primaries

The fifth largest town in Kenya is witnessing one its fiercest political battles in the race to capture the Uasin Gishu County governorship seat.

Being the headquarters of the county, Eldoret has been the center of attraction in the North Rift region, Deputy President William Ruto’s home turf.

Kenyans have been advised on numerous occasions to shun tribal politics but unfortunately, the vice is taking center stage in Uasin Gishu with incumbent governor Jackson Mandago who hails from the Nandi sub-tribe facing off with his fierce rival, Zedekiah Bundotich aka ‘Buzeki’, from the Keiyo community, the second largest sub-tribe in the county.

The Jubilee Party was forced to postpone the county’s nomination excercise that were initially meant to take place on Friday, April 21^st after a majority of aspirants led by the governor raised concerns of uneven distribution of ballot papers.

“We as aspirants and people of Uasin Gishu want the party leadership to stop today’s nomination exercise because ballot papers have not been distributed evenly to all the polling stations as at now,” said Governor Mandago, who was explaining to Citizen Digital why they wanted the exercise called off.

The race for the county’s top-most job has turned into a two-horse race, with businessman, Buzeki, giving the incumbent a run for his money in a bid to clinch Jubilee’s party ticket.

Buzeki who has been branded an establishment project sponsored by Deputy President William Ruto, claims that the businessman has come out to refute strongly saying that is propaganda meant to derail his gubernatorial ambitions.

“My rivals are spreading proganda that I am favoured by the deputy president, I want to tell them that no amount of propaganda will pull back my gubernatorial ambitions,” said Buzeki on Friday in Eldoret.

Buzeki has accused the incumbent of being tribal by allowing one sub-tribe to dominate county leadership positions.

Voting is currently underway in Uasin Gishu and all aspirants have expressed their faith on the process.