Mwende Gatabaki, wife to renowned economist David Ndii has revealed the reason why he split with ODM Leader Raila Odinga.
Ndii was a staunch supporter of the former premier and was an advisor to Odinga and the NASA coalition.
During an interview with Nation on November 30, 2021, Mwende revealed that Ndii and Odinga parted ways due to the truce between the former premier and President Uhuru Kenyatta.
She also cited the move to amend the Constitution of Kenya 2010 through the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) as another reason for the fallout.
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"The ‘Handshake’ is what led to the falling-out.
"The agreement was that Raila was to negotiate for some form of power-sharing between Jubilee and Nasa – especially since it took a lot of convincing for the other Nasa principals to accept Raila as the flag-bearer [they had completely refused]. But Raila went ahead without telling them and negotiated an arrangement just for himself," Mwende stated.
"Then came the BBI bill that was aimed at changing the Constitution. He (Ndii) felt it didn’t have much for Kenyans," she added.
Ndii has since moved on to support the candidature of Deputy President William Ruto and is believed to be a key player in the DP's presidential campaign.
He is also said to be at the forefront of crafting DP Ruto's manifesto and economic resurgence strategy for the country.
Mwende a former government employee has also declared interest in the Kiambu County Gubernatorial seat.
She too is a supporter of DP Ruto and has hailed him as a leader in touch with reality and the most likely to succeed President Kenyatta.
“One of the good things William Ruto has done is engaging the people of Mt Kenya directly without going through someone. Some people are not comfortable with this because he has received huge acceptance in the Mt Kenya region,” she says.
Mwende criticised Odinga’s plan to remit a monthly stipend of Ksh6,000 to millions of poor households if elected president.
“I worry about his Ksh6,000 stipend that he has promised if he ascends to power, which is not sustainable. I worry about his ideas. The discussion should be about creating income-generating projects that can employ millions of Kenyans," she said.
In Kiambu, Mwende is expected to go up against incumbent James Nyoro, Thika Town MP Patrick Wainaina wa Jungle, Senator Kimani Wamatangi, ex-governor William Kabogo and ex-county official Juliet Kimemia.
