Shocking Letter Blows Whistle on Secret Mandago Campaign Funders

-A letter leaked to the press from a supporter of Uasin Gishu governor reveals the who-is-who behind his campaign

-Included are businessmen, and a renowned journalist 

The Uasin Gishu gubernatorial race is now more heated than ever, especially with the April 21st party primaries fast approaching.

Both the incumbent and the three opponents who have vowed to send him home on the day of the nominations, are bracing themselves as they have just a little over a fortnight to the set date.

A resident of Uasin Gishu county last week shared secret information with the press, some of which leaked on social media.

In his letter, the man exposes the plans that the Mandago campaign team have to bring down his opponents ahead of the primaries, in a bid to secure the seat for himself as he seeks a second term.

Big names such as those of Eldoret businessmen and a renowned award winning journalist are mentioned in his letter, as well as the amount of money raised by the said people to support Mandago’s reelection.

He wrote:

“The false fat white lie that has been fixed to Hon. Buzeki has now resurfaced over the following cowardice options and sorry solution that has been taken by the incumbent governor with an aim of grasping any straw however weak it is to save is already gone seat. Picture these developing scenarios:

To begin with I can confidently reveal that the Nation media group that was used by wakili Boaz Kimeli who happens to be a good friend to me, captured the story of Buzeki without seeking verification according to media guidelines the reason behind this quick reporting is now a naked affair one journalist, Wangui, who works with the nation media group as a producer. She is having an affair with one Jackson Mandago -this is nothing but facts am ready to prove that the country will be shocked the lady therefore acting with the influence of his mpango wa kando decided to report the story in a kangaroo rush just to coat his sponsor.

Secondly, it should be noted that recently the governor held a fundraiser that gave birth to 28 million to be used by the governor in his campaign the fundraiser was sponsored by three groups: one is the business holders of the millers having coaxed by Mandago that Buzeki will start a maize factory that will bring to an end to their business; the second group are the Indians who were also told that their business will also be brought to a stand still by Buzeki, while the third group was led by two individuals one Wainaina and Rose (nominated Mca) – the duo were blindly representing Kikuyus.

In a nutshell all these allegations against the people’s preferred governor Buzeki are baseless, unjustifiable and to say the least malicious we want to candidly tell Mandago that his power of strong man dictatorship will be discard soon we further wonder how a whole aspirant of jubilee wants to sue his own party just because the party cleared his greatest challenger this is a replica of a man suing his own mother mark you Jubilee is the most powerful party so far with over forty advocates the Mandago action can be equated of a man trying to clean a pig his utterances has in many cases unmeasured and poorly thought out his actions is just a wild goose chase Buzeki will win with a landslide.”

Some of the people implicated in this letter include:

• Joshua Chepkwony – KASS FM boss, and owner of Jamii Millers as well as Jamii Telcoms (FAIBA) – who is said to have contributed a measly Kshs 500,000, with a pledge of Kshs 2m and a helicopter
• Swaleh Taib, owner of Dola Millers, who is said to have contributed 5 Toyota Prados and Kshs 4.5 million (he has been
• Joseph Wainaina, owner of Queens Garden Hotel
• Wangui, TV journalist at Nation Media Group, who is using the media house’s property in print, digital and broadcast to spread malice about Buzeki

Shame! Mandago humiliates his CECs in front of Uasin Gishu residents by doing this

-Uasin Gishu governor Mandago was at Turbo constituency yesterday

Residents of Turbo constituency were shocked yesterday when Governor Jackson Mandago, who was on a tour of the area, publicly embarrassed his County Executive Committee members before them.

The governor had toured the constituency with a 20 vehicle convoy, under the guise of distributing bursaries and acaricides, to campaign for his reelection.

Convoy of over 20 Uasin Gishu county vehicles in Turbo (image: courtesy)

This comes even as the Independent, Electoral and Boundaries Commission put governors on notice for the abuse of public resources to campaign for their own reelection bids.

Mandago has been governor of the Uasin Gishu county for five years, and in his last months before the general elections, he decided to formally introduce his CECs to the public.

Residents scoffed at the governor’s move saying it was rather too late to do this, others noting that it is a way of endearing them to the electorate as some of them were seeking political seats in the county as Members of Parliament.

They also hit back at the governor for his selfish scheme to rig the nominations by buying smart cards worth Ksh 3 million and using his lawyer Boaz Kimeli to tarnish his strongest opponent’s name.

The CECs present included CEC Water, Energy, Environment and Natural Resources, CEC Health Services, and CEC Roads, Transport and Public Works, among others.

There are 10 executive committee members comprising seven men and three women, in the county administration.

Here is the video:

IEBC Puts Governors On Notice Over Use of Public Resources after Uasin Gishu resident shared this photo

-The use of public resources for campaigns is an offence in Kenya

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, IEBC, has warned against the use of public resources by political aspirants, especially incumbent governors, while on their campaign trails.

This comes after a group of residents from Uasin Gishu shared images of their governor Jackson Mandago, using state resources in the form of public vehicles to campaign for his re-election, under the guise of distributing ECDE construction cheques.

Convoy of over 20 Uasin Gishu county vehicles in Turbo (image: courtesy)

Mandago, who was in Turbo distributing bursary cheques and acaricides, had a convoy of over 20 county vehicles escorting Kshs 500,000 worth of cheques.

“You can now not be able to differentiate between a County officials’ forum and campaign,” said one of the residents, who witnessed the events.  “All Government officers are in the field campaigning.”

Acaricides distributions and cheques to school and bursaries are now a task of the Uasin Gishu county leadership with county staff mandated to ensure they are all on the campaign trail vouching for the incumbent.

Former ECK Commissioner, Jack Tumwa, says that when public servants are deeply involved in campaigns and using public resources, they are setting the stage for unfair elections.

“Courageous people must bring this to a halt so civil servants serve all parties without bias…,” said Tumwa.

Image: Justus Ochieng

Governors control billions of shillings and exercise considerable power. They have been getting almost Sh10 billion from the Treasury every financial year for four years. Many have become very wealthy in the first four years of their terms.

However, residents of Uasin Gishu are demanding that Mandago reveal how he spent the county’s Kshs 4.5 billion, which was revealed from the Auditor General’s report as part of the unexplained expenses.

The governor has refused to explain the circumstances under which the billions went missing, but he still went ahead and requested a supplementary budget of Kshs 500 million, which has since been denied.

Mandago is facing stiff competition from his opponents on the ground and has resorted to defeatist tactics such as blaming his main rival for stoning his campaign vehicles, accusing his opponents of poor academic credentials, as well as falsifying media reports that they are out of the race, in a bid to secure the nominations ticket for himself.

However, just recently, the Jubilee party dropped the use of smart cards, which Mandago was banking on to rig his way into being the main candidate for the party’s gubernatorial race seat.

Mandago had spent Kshs 3 million on purchase of the smart cards, which he now cannot use.

Governor Mandago a worried man after Jubilee drops plans to use Smart Cards in Nominations

Uasin Gishu governor Jackson Mandago is pondering his next move as the Jubilee Party made a startling announcement about dropping the use of the smart cards.

The Jubilee Party dropped its plans to use the recently launched smart cards in the upcoming party primaries after succumbing to pressure from members to stop its use following irregularities in the acquiring of cards by different members.

Just yesterday, Raphael Tuju, who heads the party’s secretariat said that the sole intention was to ensure recruitment of as many members as possible.

“I do not want to preempt exactly how the nominations will be carried out since the national elections board (NEB) will come out to make an announcement soon,” Tuju said yesterday.

This comes at a time when complaints arose that some politicians have been buying a large number of membership cards to distribute in their strongholds, in anticipation that they will get more votes in these regions during next month’s nominations.

Others were said to be storing these cards to distribute them just before the primaries.

“Those people who will not file returns on time will not participate in the nominations,” warned Jubilee Vice Chairman David Murathe about those hoarding the cards.

The move was opposed by most Jubilee aspirants who felt that if they are used, the nominations could be tilted in favour of those who bought many cards.

The decision comes at a time when a revelation that a top party operative has been importing and selling the smart cards.

The operative could now make huge losses if the remaining cards are not bought out once it becomes apparent they are of no use in the party primaries.

Mandago had spent Kshs 3 million on the cards in a bid to ‘buy’ as many members and subsequently sail through the nominations as the party’s preferred candidate for the Uasin Gishu gubernatorial seat, but this is now a thing of the past.

Similarly, members of the party complained about ‘outsiders’ having spent millions buying the cards so as to steer the nominations in their favor and place stronger candidates to win those who secure the Jubilee seats.