Editor’s note: Bryson Ouma explains why Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja could get impeached following Raila Odinga’s demise.
There they stood – Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja, eyes cast down, hands folded like a man in confession. Beside him, Hassan Joho, cool and unreadable, his sharp eyes betraying a knowing smirk.
In front of them, a flag-draped coffin – the symbol of Kenya’s fallen giant, Raila Odinga. And behind that solemn moment, a storm quietly building in Nairobi’s corridors of power.
Sakaja’s posture betrays it all. The man looked like someone who just realised his insurance policy had expired – and Odinga was the underwriter.
For months, Sakaja had danced on the edge of impeachment.
City Hall sharks circled, MCAs filed motions, and microphones trembled with anger. Then came Baba – the old lion – calling everyone off the hunt.
A phone call here, a handshake there, and the young governor lived to smile another day.
Now Baba is gone. The phone is silent. The MCAs are restless. And Joho – the political showman who never misses a good story – stands next to Sakaja like a man watching a slow roast.
Rumour has it, in Nairobi’s tea houses and Telegram groups, that the knives are out again. Those who once feared Odinga’s gaze now test their weight in numbers.
The same ward reps who chanted Sakaja’s name last year are asking where the garbage went, where the bursaries went, and when, exactly, the governor plans to return from his eternal photo ops.
Joho, ever the coastal tactician, seems to understand the rhythm.
He’s been through the heat himself – impeachments threatened, alliances broken, red carpets rolled and unrolled.
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja (l) and Mining CS Hassan Joho. Photo/courtesy
His calm stare in that photo could fill a book: one man mourning a legend, another realising the legend was his shield.
Without Raila Odinga, Nairobi’s politics is raw and unfiltered. Power is shifting, and loyalties are melting.
The State House crowd smells opportunity; the MCAs smell blood. Sakaja, once the golden boy of urban politics, suddenly finds the ground underfoot turning into wet clay.
It’s a Nairobi thing – one day you’re a visionary governor with a plan, the next, your allies are taking tea without inviting you.
The city is restless. The street preachers are whispering prophecies. Ward reps are counting signatures. The vultures are already circling City Hall, wings spread, waiting for the governor to blink.
READ ALSO: (Photos) Sakaja Accompanied by Dreadlocked Sons, Daughter to Swearing-in Ceremony
And somewhere in that moment – as Sakaja bowed his head beside Joho – you could almost hear the unspoken truth hanging in the air like smoke after a candle’s flame: The man is cooked.
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