Sakaja leads in UDA Nairobi chairman contest, Intouch survey reveals

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has maintained a clear lead in the race for the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Nairobi county chairmanship.

According to an opinion poll conducted by Intouch Polls Limited, after the party grassroots elections which were conducted last Friday, Sakaja has the support of majority of the elected delegates. The survey was conducted on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th April by way of phone calls, text messages and monitoring of social media postings. The survey targeted the delegates who were elected in the Friday grassroots elections

In the poll, respondents who were interviewed, majority supported Sakaja’s candidature with 63% of UDA delegates in favour of the county boss who also cast his vote at St. Georges Primary School.
In the poll, Gakuya is a distant second with 27 percent support. Another 3 percent of the respondents said they were undecided as 6 percent said they would prefer a candidate who is not currently holding an elective position in government.

A majority of the elected delegates took to their social media pages to celebrate their win and declare their allegiance to either Sakaja’s Team Mbwekse or Gakuya’s Team Budaa.

Ahead of the grassroots elections, Intouch conducted an initial poll among ward and sub county candidates. The poll was conducted between April 24th and 26th, 2024, from respondents from each of the 85 wards across all 17 constituencies in Nairobi reported Sakaja leading with 68 percent of the delegates. Most of the respondents in the survey were ward and sub branch officials who had declared interests in vying for various positions and who were potential delegates during the voting process.

Sakaja has the support of the ward and constituency delegates in 13 out of the 17 prefer Sakaja as the UDA Nairobi chairman.

Those interviewed supported Sakaja noting that Gakuya’s campaign was largedly marked by ethnic biasness and is the best candidate to epitomize the face of Nairobi which is cosmopolitan. Respondents sought to have an all inclusive leadership as opposed to ethnic divisions.

The Intouch survey was conducted among supporters of UDA in the City. Of all the Nairobi grassroot leaders affiliated to ANC which is an affiliate of UDA in Kenya Kwanza, 86 percent are in Support of Sakaja.

In the poll, Sakaja gannered support from respondents 12 constituencies including Kasarani, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti North, Embakasi South, Makadara, Ruaraka, Embakasi West, Westlands, Kibra and Mathare while those in support of Gakuya come from the five constituencies of Embakasi North, Embakasi East, Dagoretti South, Roysambu and Embaksi Central.