Influential businessmen and politicians are pushing State House to reconcile Governor Mike Sonko and his estranged deputy Polycarp Igathe.
They want President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto to convince Igathe who resigned on Friday, to rescind his decision.
Zipo.co.ke has established that some businessmen plan to meet the head of state over the Igathe-Sonko fallout and urge him to broker a ceasefire.
It will be remembered that Uhuru who was in South Africa when Igathe tendered his resignation and the former is yet to speak about the issue days after he returned to the country.
It was widely believed that Igathe was a State House project that would execute its interests in City Hall but the relationship between the two was rumoured to have hit the rocks before Igathe who was fished from the corporate world, notifying his boss that his resignation would take effect on January 31.
Among the issues thought to have been the last straw that broke the camels back, was the appointing of county executive committee members, chief officers and top managers. Igathe reportedly insisted on a 50-50 power-sharing of the top positions with Sonko but the later flatly rejected the proposal.
“I regret I have failed to earn the trust of the governor to enable me to drive administration and management of the county,” Igathe said when resigning.
A source said on Tuesday that some Nairobi billionaires opposed to Sonko’s anti-graft crusade pushed the deputy governor to quit his job in order to frustrate the county administration.
“It was never Igathe’s decision to resign. He was pushed by powerful businessmen,” the Star quoted the source.
Adding; “Igathe is my confidante and resigning was not his decision. Actually, they wanted Igathe to be given some posts in the administration and to run the whole city.”
It is also said that some city tycoons tried and failed to meet the governor over tenders and contracts.
“Some tycoons thought they could use Sonko to secure multi-billion-shilling contracts. After they failed, they ganged up and decided to frustrate Sonko’s government by pushing Igathe to resign,” an aide of Sonko said.
A video taken during the electioneering emerged online and appeared to show Igathe drinking and using the ‘F’ word. He was in the company of business mogul Chris Kirubi and other friends and all donned Ferrari caps and matching Jubilee jackets with UhuRuto labels.
Opening a can of Tusker, Igathe teaches the industrialist and his friends the ‘Australian Toast’, saying he learnt it when he got his first job in the State Government of Queensland.
“Here is to you, here is to me. The best of friends, we will always be. And if by chance we disagree, well, F**k you. Here is to you!” Igathe says as they toast.
“We never miss our wives, we never miss our concubines.” One of the friends quips.
