Why Nakuru is no longer in the limelight

By Karanja Njoroge

The town once revered by politicians is now a pale shadow of its former self.

Since independence the region fed the country’s political agenda and was home to renowned politicians such as Mark Mwithaga, Koigi Wamwere, Achieng Oneko, Ng’ang’a Kihonge, Wilson Leitich, Kariuki Chotara, Kihika Kimani, Alicen Chelaite and Mirugi Kariuki.

The first and second presidents, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and President Moi, maintained semi-official residences in the town.

Apart from being home to rabble rousers the town’s complex ethnic mix always meant it dictated issues of the day.

But long gone are the days when Nakuru politicians dominated the headlines or when politicians used to hang around State House, Nakuru, queuing for handouts.

There is no more hurly-burly witnessed in the town over the weekends as convoys filled up at petrol stations enroute former President Moi’s Kabarak home.

The State House on the Nakuru-Nairobi highway is now quiet, with only security personnel and a few staff moving about.

Seven years ago a stop in Nakuru town would have changed one’s life with monetary gains if you bumped into the powers that be.

Almost 90 per cent of the controversial allocations of the Mau forest were made in Nakuru, the Rift Valley Provincial headquarters. But Subukia MP Nelson Gaichuhie defends the silence, saying times have changed.

"We are pursuing a different kind of politics and we do not want just to appear in the media when we have nothing substantial to say," the MP says.

Paradigm shift

Nakuru Town MP Lee Kinyanjui attributes the high voltage politics to the personality of the two presidents. He says with the two spending most of their time in the town, Nakuru’s reputation as the political hotbed was assured.

"There has been a paradigm shift in the way we conduct our politics after the 2002 General Election," he says.

The 2002 elections, which marked the exit of Kanu from power, sounded the death knell for political activists in the town.

"We had many people in this town who engaged in politics from early morning to evening and after almost 40 years things changed," Kinyanjui says.

The MP claims most of those who took on the Moi and Kenyatta regimes were only protesting at exclusion from power.

Kinyanjui says the region has nothing to show despite being the hotbed of politics.

"There is no District Hospital and the only Stadium in the town was built in the 1960s," he says.

Another politician, Mr Francis Karanja, claims the current breed of leaders is insensitive to the plight of residents.

 

 

Read all about: Mzee Jomo Kenyatta President Moi State House

 

 

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