Kiambu’s jinxed governors: Can Wamatangi break the one-term curse?

For a long time, Kenya’s vice presidents faced the jinx of never gaining tenancy at State House.

Of the 12, who have occupied the second most powerful seat since independence before Prof Kithure Kindiki, the current deputy president, the name the position assumed after the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution, only three succeeded to rise to the apex of the country’s political ladder.

Still, the circumstances were different. Daniel Moi was favoured by the political dynamics of the time, specifically the power tussles within Jomo Kenyatta’s inner circle, to succeed him when he passed on in 1978 and went to rule for 25 years, Mwai Kibaki realised his dream after two attempts on the back of the anti-Moi wave in 2002.

The current occupant, William Ruto, did not sweep to power as Uhuru Kenyatta’s deputy but as an outsider after rebelling and campaigning as an outsider, a hustler, ranged against dynasties after Uhuru tapped Raila Odinga as his preferred successor in 2022.

In recent times, the seat of Governor of Kiambu has similarly proved to be jinxed. The country’s most populous county has had to contend with one-term county governors ever since devolution came into being in 2013..

Within just 12 years of existence, the devolved unit has so far had four regional bosses including the current occupier of the office Kimani Wamatangi who had served as Senator consecutively for two terms, previously.

None of the other three has served for more than a term, in fact two of them did not last in office for five years. So it remains to be seen whether Wamatangi will pass the political litmus test and break the jinx.

The first Governor William Kabogo lost his bid to retain the seat in 2017 after he was beaten by Ferdinand Waititu, alias Baba Yao who had served for slightly more than a year as Member of Parliament for Kabete constituency after winning the seat in a by-election following the assassination of the then MP George Muchai.

However, as fate would have it, Baba Yao served as Kiambu Governor for about two years and was kicked out by Members of the County Assembly through an impeachment motion over accusations of corruption and abuse of office, which was ratified by the Senate in 2019.

Waititu was later to be arraigned in court and jailed for 12 years with an option of a fine of Sh54 million after he was found guilty of corruptly receiving money from the county government through his proxy companies. He is still serving the jail term after unsuccessfully applying for bond pending hearing and determination of an appeal.

Waititu’s successor James Nyoro who was previously his deputy, served as governor from January 2020 to August 2022 when he lost to Wamatangi during the general elections in which the latter was riding on the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party wave that swept across the Mt Kenya region.

Now the question on the lips of most Kiambu residents and political observers is will Governor Wamatangi break the “jinxed one-term curse” and go on to win a second stint or suffer the same fate as his predecessors?

Kiambu voters, like those in her neighbouring Nairobi City County, are known to weed out incumbents whether in parliamentary, gubernatorial seats or ward representatives, in every election cycle.

This is evident over the last three consecutive polls since devolution kicked in, where majority of the MPs and MCAs, not to mention governors in the two counties, are shown the door after serving one term.

“Kiambu residents seem to be allergic to people who have held elective office once and want to try new faces every election year. The situation is even worse for governors who are seen to represent authority and are often accused of misusing or abusing their power,” said Samuel Kuria, a resident of Juja sub-county who is also a political analyst.

Kuria adds that the incumbent county boss may also be favoured by his apparent “non-alliance” to any of the political formations currently pitting supporters of President William Ruto against those of the opposition.

It is no secret that Wamatangi has never openly associated himself either with Ruto’s side now being strongly represented by Deputy President Kithure Kindiki through the so-called economic empowerment drives or the opposition side led by former DP Rigathi Gachagua.

The Governor has given Kindiki’s functions a wide berth despite the DP’s forays into the populous county where he has presided over close to ten such functions in under two months.

“Typical of Wamatangi, he always plays safe and keeps his cards close to his chest in the political chess game. In the run-up to the 2023 elections, people kept guessing about his intentions until he joined UDA in the last minute. He may repeat the script in 2027 by defecting to another party,” observed Kuria.

In April this year, Wamatangi found himself in trouble with the law after his home was raided by anti-graft sleuths and he was later grilled over allegations of “irregular procurement and fictitious payments” to the tune of Sh1.5 billion.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) detectives had also recovered a total of Sh13.6 million in cash hidden in the Governor’s residence before they arrested him along with eight other senior county officials and whisked them to Integrity Center for questioning.

However, Wamatangi later dismissed this as the work of his political rivals, claiming he was being undermined over his uncompromising political stand and safeguarding public resources from greedy individuals.

“This is pure political intimidation. There is no way more than 50 policemen can raid my home and almost another 200 be deployed to various ministers in my government. I will remain focused despite the attempts to intimidate me, I will not buy fear,” said Wamatangi after he was released following a six-hour interrogation.

He quipped: “They are targeting only the ministers who perform because they want to make my government a failure. I want to tell the person who wants to seek the governorship of Kiambu that it is the people who elect the Governor, not the police.”

Also arrested during the dawn raid were the County Secretary Peter Ndegwa, CEC member for Finance Nancy Kirumba, CEC Lands Salome Wainaina, Chief Officer Finance William Kinyanjui and Director Supplies Chain Phyllis Muiruri.

Others were Director Revenue Henry Mburu, a clerical officer Paul Kibe and Bernard Kabaiku, Director of Filtronic International Ltd, a private firm.

However, so far no charges have been preferred against Wamatangi or his county government officials in court and it remains unclear whether this could be used as a political weapon to “tame him” when the right time comes.

There has been a long-standing row pitting some Kiambu MPs against the county administration in which the legislators have been seeking to control construction of markets.

The Governor’s political nemeses include Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wah who is also the National Assembly Majority Leader and Thika Town member Alice Ng’ang’a who has also declared her interest in the gubernatorial position come the next general elections.

Ms Ng’ang’a, popularly known as ‘Mama Simba’, appears to be the UDA brigade’s favourite for the Kiambu governorship race as she seeks to unseat Wamatangi in the 2027 polls.

Ugly incidents have often marked supremacy battles between Governor Wamatangi and Ms Ng’ang’a over construction of markets in Thika.