A thrill of Murang’a senatorial race is Orange Democratic Party’s Pius Kinuthia, 33, whom Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party presidential candidate Raila Odinga fondly refers to as “my boy”.
And he says he is proud to be Mr Odinga’s boy in every sense of the word, “being the man I’ve pledged political allegiance to since 2002”.
Contesting in a county where Mr Odinga garnered 9, 122 (1.03 per cent) votes in the 2017 presidential election against Uhuru Kenyatta who got 498, 248 (98.61 per cent) of the 587, 222 registered voters, the magnitude of Mr Kinuthia’s task becomes evident.
“I became Odinga’s supporter in 2002 and his loyal soldier in 2005 during the referendum contest that we won. I settled on him owing to his ideologies, consistency, and dedication to democratisation of the country,” he said.
“I’m aware that this party has a bad rating in Murang’a due to past propaganda spread against it and Mr Odinga... but I want to change the way our people perceive issues, him [Odinga] and our politics. I want to show my people that the era of voting for parties is over. Let’s interrogate individuals and vote for them based on their agenda, not party affiliation.”
He says he has encountered hostility on the campaign trail—being heckled and his campaign posters vandalised—to prevent him from selling his agenda.
“But with time, that scenario has changed as our people buy more into political tolerance and civility. I’m happy to report that nowadays I get good reception and people are freely giving me an opportunity to articulate my issues,” he said.
“I don’t understand why Azimio candidates, especially from the Jubilee side, fear putting Odinga’s image on their posters.
“I fail to understand why they don’t openly campaign for him. They only do it when he and his running mate Martha Karua are on ground but when they leave, they resort to campaigning for themselves without mentioning Azimio, Odinga and Karua. We can’t go on like this and I urge them to boldly campaign for Odinga,” he said.
Mr Kinuthia will be squaring it out with Mr Joe Nyutu (United Democratic Alliance), Mr Kembi Gitura (Jubilee), Ms Hellen Kigia (Farmers Party) and Ms Munoru Mwangi (Kanu).
Mr Nyutu and Ms Kigia are affiliated with Deputy President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza Alliance while the other three support Mr Odinga’s presidential bid.
Given that the race has narrowed down to a contest between the DP and the former prime minister, the most popular between the two will bag the Senate seat as long as the sibling rivalry question is addressed.
Home ground support will also play a role in the election. Mr Gitura hails from Kiharu constituency that has 114,758 registered voters.
Mr Nyutu has his roots in Gatanga constituency (101,296 voters) but has his home in Maragua, which has 102,383 voters and business interests in Gatanga, Maragua and Kigumo. Kigumo has 82,599 voters.
Murang’a has 616,398 registered voters as per the latest Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) figures.
Ms Kigia has her roots in Gatanga but her teaching and gospel music occupations have seen her establish political cells across the county.
Kangema (52,002 voters) and Mathioya (58,102 voters) have no representatives hence they could decide the outcome of the polls.
“This is an interesting contest in that, if only all the five were to sit down and agree to give us two candidates for the final ballot, we would now be left to worry about who between Odinga and Ruto is more popular in Murang’a,” Mr Mixson Warui, a youth alliance chairperson said.
Mr Nyutu and Ms Kigia, he said, should have agreed to front one candidate while Mr Kinuthia, Mr Gitura and Ms Munoru should do the same in Azimio to face the Kenya Kwanza candidate.
“But as it is, sibling rivalry might cost the two wings the numbers and all of them go into it sharing a mathematical chance to emerge victorious.
“But should the duel shape out to be between UDA and Jubilee—which are the main parties out to win Mt Kenya’s political soul—then the ideal scenario will play out and have Nyutu facing off with Gitura,” Mr Warui said.
Ms Kigia and Ms Munoru go into the race carrying the gender card and should the craze about women empowerment that is raging across the country gain traction the two might end up being the point of focus.
If age becomes a factor, Mr Gitura and Ms Munoru go into the contest carrying the aspirations of the elderly, Mr Kinuthia represents the youth, while the others represent the middle-aged.
In terms of profession, Mr Gitura is a lawyer, Mr Nyutu is a leadership and management administrator, Mr Kinuthia is a pharmacist, Ms Kigia is a teacher and gospel artiste. Ms Munoru is an educationist and business engineer educated in Germany and America.
The integrity question might also come into play, with the ‘Covid billionaires’ scandal featuring in the ongoing campaigns.
Mr Nyutu and Mr Gitura’s road to the ballot has not been without drama. Mr Gitura lost in Jubilee after scoring 28 points against scholar Peter Kagwanja’s 72 in a secret opinion poll conducted by national government administration officers.
Despite the loss, Jubilee party settled on Mr Gitura on account of his having remained loyal to President Kenyatta and the party whereas Prof Kagwanja had been too close to National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi, a Kenya Kwanza Alliance principal.
That Mr Kagwanja’s home is in Maragua did not favour him since the party’s gubernatorial aspirant is from neighbouring Kigumo constituency (both in Murang’a South alongside Maragua, Kandara and Gatanga) .
Thus Mr Gitura’s Murang’a North roots (Kiharu, Mathioya and Kangema) favoured him in the power balancing act.
For Mr Nyutu, it started with Ms Kigia endorsing him in a Gatanga church in January 2021 only to come out later and pull a surprise by contesting on another party affiliated with UDA.
Others who pulled out of the race in favour of Mr Nyutu were Mr Kamau Mutuota, Mr Macharia Mburu and Mr James Karihe.
They were eyeing the UDA ticket but were prevailed upon to back Mr Nyutu by gubernatorial candidate Dr Irungu Kang’ata and Kandara MP Alice Wahome.
Mr Nyutu was given a direct ticket, forcing Ms Kigia to shop for a new party.
All the candidates are promising the same things ranging from ensuring county resources are put to good use, formulation of laws that favour the local economy and Mt Kenya in general and ensuring the county government actualises the respective parties’ manifestos.
They also promise to be loyal soldiers to their presidential candidates as well as work with county assemblies to ensure cohesion and development.
TOMORROW: Rongai constituency, home to three of Kenya’s four presidents, where Raymond Moi is seeking a third term
