Igathe: I'm a Graduate of Mike Sonko's School of Advanced Politics

• Igathe: I'm a Graduate of Mike Sonko's School of Advanced Politics

• Jubilee party's Nairobi gubernatorial candidate Polycarp Igathe has credited his political ambitions to the teachings he got from his former boss - Mike Mbuvi Sonko.

• Speaking  on Thursday, June 23, Igathe stated he had learnt about the dynamics of politics from the former Nairobi governor despite the fallout which saw him resign during the first year of their administration.

  He stated that the failure of their administration made him come back to the city's politics to prove himself.
  

  Nairobi gubernatorial aspirant Polycarp Igathe during his past campaigns in the city.

  FILE

  "I am a graduate of Mike Sonko's institute of advanced political hindsight. I learnt something and I am not fresh. You do not learn things from success, you learn things from failure. Last time, I failed and went to collect myself and I am back.

  "I celebrate Mike Sonko for having taught me politics and having brought me to the political scene. He is my friend and not my enemy. I am coming to serve for five years. If I was a coward, I would have decided not to run," he stated.

• Further, he maintained that he had to resign because he felt that it would have been an injustice to the public if he continued serving as the deputy governor.

• Igathe expressed confidence in his gubernatorial bid - stating that he only wanted to serve for one term to prove himself to Nairobi residents.

• "Those polls are lies told by lying liars. I do not even read them because those are polls created by politicians to create a perception. I am a market researcher and it is a shame what is going on. The real poll is on August 9 and they will be shocked. We shall win by over 1.2 million votes and we shall obliterate UDA," the corporate executive-turned-politician-remarked. 

  When queried on his campaign tactics that have gone viral in recent months, he stated that the tactics were not planned and a public relations strategy but rather a true reflection of who he was.

  He stated that he has always engaged with ordinary workers even while serving as the boss in big corporate organisations.

  "That is the real me. When I worked at the bank, I used to work in branches, when I was heading an oil marketing multinational, I was a pump attendant and I sold sodas when working at the beverages multinational. The perception is that a boss is someone who sits in a leather chair is wrong. A boss should be where the work is.

  "People are saying that Igathe has a very unique campaign. I am simply targeting the blue-collar work which is the foundation of a city. A city is made of waiters and waitresses. It is a cultural thing."

• He also queried opinion polls that have pinned him second in the race after his competitor Johnson Sakaja of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA).