Agnes Kavindu: The new Machakos Senator-elect

Machakos Senator-elect? Agnes Kavindu speaks after casting her vote during the Machakos Senatorial by-elections at Kathome polling station, in Machakos County on March 18, 2021.  [John Muia, Standard]

Wiper Party's Agnes Kavindu Muthama was declared the winner of the Machakos Senatorial by-election on Friday. She garnered 104,352 votes against her closes competitor Urbanus Ngengele of UDA who got 19,726.

In her rare media interviews, Agnes Muthama identifies herself as a farmer and a preacher having preached through the Biblia Husema Broadcasting studios for over seven years up until 2017 when she immersed herself fully in politics.

In the last general election, Kavindu vied for the Machakos Woman Representative seat on the Jubilee ticket but was defeated by Wiper’s Joyce Kamene.

She was later appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta to the 14-member Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) Committee in 2018.

She got married to former Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama in 1978. They separated a few years later in 1983 with Kavindu being granted custody of the children while Muthama was tasked with child support.

They reunited in 1996 and according to Kavindu and got another child. She hit the headlines again in 2014 when she complained of cruelty from the former senator.

Agnes Kavindu wife of Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama at the Milimani Law Courts seeking to block the Senator from evicting her from their matrimonial home. [PHOTO, FIDELIS KABUNYI]

However, as of 2017 when she was vying for the Machakos Woman Representative position, she still identified herself as Muthama’s wife and insisted they still shared a home.

 However, her decision to vie for the seat on a Jubilee ticket instead of Wiper raised questions on the veracity of her claims.

Kavindu is well known to the residents of Machakos as a missionary and a staunch member of Kyemutheke AIC Church.  She is a mother of four and a grandmother of three.

She says her motivation to seek a leadership position is her desire to alleviate problems afflicting women and children.

She says her pain is the number of idle youth across Machakos County who need to be kept busy through self-sustaining projects and sports activities