Little-known 'hustler' floors bigwigs to clinch Senate nomination

John Methu, 31 who trounced political bigwigs to win Nyandarua UDA Senator ticket. [Standard]

For 31-year-old John Methu, his victory in securing a UDA ticket to contest the Nyandarua Senate seat was a dream come true.

His dream has always been to lead the Nyandarua people at the Senate.

From the little known Karoboithi Village, Njambini Kiburu Ward in the vast Kinangop Constituency, Methu beat all odds to emerge the winner. 

Methu was facing formidable opposition from former Cabinet Minister and incumbent Senator Mwangi Githiomi and former Local Government assistant minister Gachara Muchiri. Also in the race was city lawyer John Kinyanjui.

He garnered 22,473 votes.

Kinyanjui came second with 18,314 votes, Githiomi garnered 3,799 votes while Gachara got 1,992 votes.

Methu was dwarfed by his competitors in every aspect but charisma, eloquence, resilience and determination were what he believes propelled him to win.

A Bachelor of Arts, political science and sociology degree holder, Methu describes himself as an ambitious young man.

“God has answered my prayers and I believe that I will be the next Nyandarua senator,” he says.

In 2017, at the age of 26, he contested for the same seat but lost to Githiomi.

Having attended Heni Primary, he is largely considered home-bred.

Financially handicapped, Methu did not have agents in an entire constituency, which he won nevertheless. The win was decisive as he won in four out of the five constituencies.

“I did not have money to hire agents in all the polling stations. I just had the belief that the elections would be free and fair and true to that, it happened,” he says.

He noted that his biggest challenge was that his opponents were dishing out money to the electorate to woo them but his case was different.

“I relied on well-wishers even to fuel my car. Printing of posters was even a challenge but the people of Nyandarua were on my side,” noted Methu who is popularly known as The Black Senator due to his body complexion.

He noted that he used to walk for kilometres to woo voters as using vehicles was a challenge.

“This, I thought could work better for me as I could visit people in their homes. Every day, for the last five months, I traversed different villages even on foot. Residents welcomed me and offered me food and water,” he says.

Before he contested for the seat, he worked as the personal assistant to the Nyandarua County Assembly Speaker Ndegwa Wahome.