Andrew Kibe smells an opportunity in Jalang’o’s expulsion from the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party.
The Lang’ata Member of Parliament (MP), whose real name is Felix Odiwuor, was expelled alongside four other lawmakers for gross misconduct.
The comedian turned politician was on Wednesday, September 6, 2023, ousted alongside Kisumu senator Tom Ojienda, Gem’s Elisha Odhiambo, Bondo’s MP Gideon Ochanda, and their Suba South counterpart Caroli Omondi after the party’s National Executive Committee resorted to adopting the recommendations.
Andrew Kibe was quick to tease Jalang’o after ODM expelled him, saying he would challenge him in the forthcoming polls since he no longer enjoys the backing of the party that sponsored him to Parliament.
The controversial content creator shared his campaign poster from the 2013 General Elections and told the Lang’ata MP that he would meet him on the ballot – seemingly in the 2027 general election.
“Photoshop kiasi and this poster is good to go. @JalangoMwenyewe tukutane kwa debe,” Kibe posted.
Kibe’s political career
Andrew Kibe contested for the Lang’ata parliamentary seat in the 2013 General Election and lost to ODM’s Joash Odiambo Olum.
The 2013 Lang’ata parliamentary race was particularly interesting since the candidates were seeking to replace ODM leader Raila Odinga who had been the area MP for more than 20 years (at that time Lang’ata and Kibra constituencies had not been split).
The former Prime Minister first won the seat in 1992 on a Ford Kenya party ticket. He retained it in 1997, despite moving to NDP party. He won it again in 2002, on an LDP party ticket, which was then a member of the Narc coalition.
In 2007, Raila retained the seat through ODM party. In 2013, the 2010-promulgated Constitution barred him from contesting for the seat, as he was a presidential candidate.
In the 2013 election, ODM’s Olum defeated Nixon Korir by 7,654 votes. Korir contested on the URP ticket and got 17,740 votes while Olum won with 25,394.
Andrew Kibe, who contested on a UDF party ticket, managed only about 1,400 votes.
Korir captured the Lang’ata seat in the 2017 general election but lost in the 2022 election to Jalang’o who contested on an ODM ticket.
On April 12, 2023, Jalang’o explained to Kibe why he lost the Lang’ata seat in the 2013 election while being interviewed virtually on his podcast.
In that conversation, Jalang’o was very open telling Kibe the reason why he failed to clinch the Lang’ata parliamentary seat.
“I asked why you lost. They said your Lang’ata is in TNA, Onyonka, and those areas,” Jalas told Kibe.
The first-term MP pointed out that Kibe didn’t campaign in areas that mattered which had the most votes.
“The votes are there in the ghetto. You were campaigning in bars,” Jalang’o told Kibe.
Kibe, for his part, congratulated the ODM MP for his victory in last year’s general election.
However, he admitted that he celebrated a lot when rumours emerged that Jalang’o had failed to clinch the seat in his first attempt during the early stages of the vote tallying.
“First you knew that I laughed at you in the morning when I heard you lost. Bro, I fell down here. You would have seen me. I had celebrated that Jalas had not won. I was dead,” Kibe told the Lang’ata MP.
Jalang’o said he watched the video of Kibe celebrating his purported loss and just ignored it, wishing he was also at the polling station to witness what was going on in the field as he floored Nixon Korir.
Lang’ata politics
Lang’ata constituency is a stronghold of the ODM party and that is why many people believe Jalang’o stands no chance of re-election in 2027 without the party’s support.
Nixon Korir was the only ‘outsider’ to be elected Lang’ata MP. Noteworthy, he won by a small margin.
Korir won the seat in the August 8, 2017 election with 41,086 votes, beating ODM’s Oscar Omoke who garnered 39,593 votes – a difference of 1,493 votes.
ODM was blamed for the ’embarrassing’ loss in their stronghold. However, the party won all four ward representative seats in the Lang’ata constituency at the time.
