City lobby group hails UDA win in Kiambaa by-election

A youth lobby group in Nairobi County is in jubilation following the recent win by the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) in the hotly contested Kiambaa parliamentary by-election.

The celebrations come barely a week after the group dubbed Shamra Shamra, conducted spirited campaigns to drum up support for UDA’s youthful contestant, John Njuguna Wanjiku, who is now the Kiambaa MP-elect.

Mr Wanjiku, 36, floored Jubilee’s Kariri Njama in the hotly contested by-election held on Thursday 15 after garnering 21,773 votes. Mr Njama secured 21,263 votes.

The group aligned to Deputy President William Ruto is now urging more youths to join UDA to pursue their leadership ambitions.

In statement on Monday, Shamra Shamra coordinators pointed out that time has come for Kenyan youths to be proactively involved in leadership as opposed to being mere spectators.

Change narrative

“Youths are creative, innovative, energetic, educated and self-motivated, therefore, to all youths out there, join UDA to change the narrative through the bottom-up approach.

“Be part of transformation; youths don't have to be spectators. You can be the next MCA, woman representative, senator, governor or even the future president. Youths wake up. The future depends on you,” the group said in its statement.

While celebrating UDA’s youthful MP-elect, the lobby group urged more young people to contest for leadership positions, saying they are the only ones equipped to fully represent their fellow youths.

“Over the years, we have had an experience of the older generation in politics, although we do acknowledge that progressively, we have seen youths taking up the political wheel. Unfortunately, we need to see more of the youths in politics as it is very important for youths to be at the frontline in being able to represent their interests,” the lobby group said.