Khalif Kairos' dream to be declared Kenya's influential business personality has been shattered.
The car enthusiasts' nomination from the Pulse Influencer Kenya Award 2023 has been revoked.
This follows wrangles with fellow nominee Maureen Bandari over alleged interference in the voting process.
She was not pleased with how he was getting votes and told so in an opinion that elicited a sharp reaction.
The two trended heavily over the weekend. A notice disqualifying him from the process reads in part
"Thank you for your participation in the Pulse Influencer Awards 2023.
Upon a thorough review of your online activities related to the awards it has come to our attention as the Pulse Influencer award committee that you have violated the stringent guidelines concerning voter buying as clearly outlined in the terms and conditions of the award, " it says
Further adding
"Regrettably your actions directly contravene the principles and regulations of the awards posing a significant threat to the fairness of the competition and potentially undermining the award's integrity" The committee attached screenshots of his online activity as proof of their decision.
He was in a tight race with fellow nominee Bandari and as of Sep 16, he had gained 47, 497k votes which was 45.07 percent, with Maureen closely trailing him with 41,184 votes representing 39.08 percent.
Kairo however wasn't disappointed with the setback.
He has called on his fans to move forward, despite heavily faulting the exercise.
He called out the award organizers
" Anyway, awards aside. My name is Kairo. Khalif Kairo. kairo issa a movement" he shared his opinion.
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