Nairobi county gubernatorial aspirant, Senator Mike Mbuvi alias Sonko has named vivo energy Managing Director Polycarp Igathe (pictured above) as his running mate in the August 8 General Election.

Sonko’s qualifications and managerial experience for the Nairobi governor position has been seen by many as his great challenge. The senator had however prior to naming his running mate maintained that if elected, he would highly engage technocrats to ensure that he achieved his vision for the county.

On Sunday, Sonko on posted on his Facebook page a list of nine potential candidates who could be his running mate and went ahead to ask Nairobians to choose who they would prefer.

The nine included:

Bishop Margaret Wanjiru (Former Mp, Asst. Minister), Denis Waweru (Former Mp. & CEO Faida investment bank), Millicent Omanga (Former Director Kengen), John Gakuo
(Former Town clerk NCC), Janet Ouko (Educationist), Jimna Mbaru
(Current chairman Dyer & Blair investments), Raymond Matiba
(Former chairman KTB), Prof.Jame Ole Kiyapi
(Former Ps & 2013Presidential candidate), Polycarp Igathe
(CEO vivo (K) Ltd & former chairman KAM
Kenya Association of manufacturers).

“Great people of Nairobi, some say politics is about numbers. This FB page of mine has over 1,123,000 fans out of which 825,892 are Nairobians. Hebu munisaidie hapa (please help me here) whom do you think deserves to be my Deputy Governor?” read sonko’s post

Polycarp Igathe has served as the regional managing director for East Africa at fast-moving consumer goods manufacturer Haco Tiger Brands. He has also served as the chairman of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers and a director at the Kenya Private Sector Alliance.

Sonko’s Popularity

Sonko’s popularity is one that cannot be estimated and political analysts have maintained that he could actually defeat Governor Evans Kidero, who will be out to run for a second term.

In the just concluded jubilee party primaries, Sonko severely defeated 2013 presidential aspirant peter Kenneth after garnering 138,185 votes against PK’s 62,504 votes.

In the 2013 elections where Sonko was vying for senator, he was also the most voted candidate in Nairobi county with 814,000 votes, where he actually garnered more votes than those that president Uhuru Kenyatta received (650,000).