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As the official campaign window opens on Sunday, Kenyans are expected to see more activities on the skies than they are used to. It has emerged that President Uhuru Kenyatta and his National Super Alliance (NASA) counterpart Raila Odinga are among a host of politicians who own some of the 50 helicopters registered by civil aviation authorities.
It seems like the August 8 elections will clearly be fought in the skies if the number of air buses so far registered in the last few weeks is anything to go by. Sources reveal that helicopters associated with President Kenyatta are among those aspirants in the upcoming elections have leased for campaigns ahead of the August General Elections.
Kirinyaga Women Representative Purity Ngirichi is said to have leased and branded a chopper owned by the Kenyatta family for a record eight months.
One helicopter is reportedly hired at a cost of around Sh150,000 an hour, people with knowledge of the helicopter leasing business reveal.This means that the August poll will most likely go down as one of the most expensively run, as a good number of political aspirants look to lease choppers for use in their campaigns.
Sources at KCAA confirmed most of the branded choppers are owned by established politicians including Nairobi governor aspirant Peter Kenneth NASA presidential candidate Raila Odinga ,DP William Ruto, Baringo Senator Gideon Moi, former President Mwai Kibaki, Musalia Mudavadi and Embu Senator, Lenny Kivuti.
“We have registered more than 50 choppers,” a source at KCAA told the Standard.