Kelvin Kioko aka Bahati finally gathered the strength to talk about the shock defeat in the Mathare constituency race in the just concluded August 9, 2022, General Election.
Speaking at the Wamusyi Night festival held at Signature Mall on October 8, Bahati questioned why politicians from the Kamba community always agree to step aside for others.
"I was offered a job by the party that lost in the election (Azimio), but I refused," he said.
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He pointed out that he did not want to follow in the footsteps of other leading politicians from the community who sacrificed their ambitions for others.
"In the past, Mike Sonko was told to step aside, Kalonzo was asked to step aside and Bahati was also told to step aside," he lamented.
Bahati further addressed his loss in the Mathare race, claiming that he knew he would be rigged out.
"So I did not win, but I knew they would steal my votes, but I tried," he said.
Ksh33 million on campaigns
Bahati invested heavily in campaigning for the Mathare constituency seat. Speaking in an interview with Tanzanian blogger Millard Ayo just days before the election, he disclosed that he had spent Ksh33 million since beginning his campaigns for the Mathare Member of Parliament (MP) seat and that he was prepared to spend Ksh10 million on the election date August 9.
"So far I have spent like Ksh 33 million. I am planning to spend Ksh 10 million on election day," Bahati said.
Bahati, who vied on a Jubilee party ticket, finished third in a race to become Mathare MP after garnering 8,166 votes against the winner Anthony Oluoch of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party who managed 28,098 votes.
Bilian Ojiwa of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) came second after securing 16,912 votes.
Waiting to be declared winner
Before the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) declared the results, Bahati had claimed in a post on social media that he had won the Mathare seat and was only waiting for the electoral body to declare him the winner.
"Three days since voting happened 21 ballot boxes were tampered with. I have been waiting to be declared the winner and to be handed over the official certificate as the Mathare MP-elect," Bahati wrote.
Bahati ultimately stopped posting on social media after the shock defeat in Mathare parliamentary election.
He returned to social media on September 28, 2022, and deleted everything from his Instagram account without any explanation.
After wiping his Instagram account clean, Bahati dropped a song dubbed ‘Mambo Ya Mhesh’ - marking his return to music after months of campaigning.
