Patience pays, says legislator who lost elections five times

It is no mean task to vie for a parliamentary seat five times and each time you become a runner up, only shy with a few votes.

But for Muturi Kigano, 72, it was a dream come true when he clinched the Kangema seat in last year’s elections on a Jubilee ticket.

He first vied for the then larger Kangema Constituency in 1974 at a tender age of 29 and lost narrowly to former powerful Cabinet Minister and Kanu point man in Central region Joseph Kamotho, now the late.

When we caught up with the Nairobi-based commercial lawyer in his private office at Bishop Gardens, he chuckled and spoke in low tones, ushering us in with a wry smile.

Occasionally, he would light up his cigarette while narrating the struggles he endured to represent the Kangema electorate at the august House.

“I have always been driven by passion to defend human rights and justice.

“I feel bad when I see human rights abuses being committed. It took long but finally I was elected overwhelmingly in last year’s elections,” says Kigano.

He reminisces how he was the legal officer for the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC), saying at the time farmers were insured against any form of loss for their produce, a programme he says assured the country of food security.

“I regret that the then government abandoned the Guaranteed Minimum Return. This programme ensured food security in the country. We started having issues with food immediately the farmers could not be insured against a myriad of risks,” says Kigano with nostalgia.

Kigano delves into his activist life when he was the founding Chairman of Forum for Restoration of Democracy (Ford) Murang’a branch, but he and others would ditch the party to form Safina.

Although he had immersed himself in active politics and activism, he did not stop representing his clients – victims of state brutality, including Opposition chief Raila Odinga, former President Mwai Kibaki and Ford Asili leader the late Kenneth Matiba, among others.

Passion

“I was in politics and an activist championing human rights but I was still representing several clients on pro bono basis. I was so passionate about human rights. That passion drove me to act on pro bono,” Kigano says, adding “I did not lack anything for my law firm.”

He would later become the pioneer chairman of Safina, a party and ideology he would share with Kiraitu Murungi, Paul Muite, Robert Shaw, Maoka Maore, Njeri Kabeberi, Njeru Kathangu, Kabando wa Kabando, Prof Ngotho Kariuki and the late George Anyona, among others.

“We left Ford because the ideals with which we joined the party were forgotten. Instead we had tribalists and personal egos. We went to Safina but it did not achieve much,” says Kigano.

But at the height of the second multiparty elections in 1997, Kigano would later throw himself into the political waters in an attempt to dislodge then Kamkunji MP Norman Nyagah of Kanu on a Safina ticket.

He lost the seat to Nyagah but Safina had made a statement, it had got five seats in Parliament.

He does not regret joining the two parties that moulded him into a true servant of the people and a leader.

“Most of us joined Ford and Safina as activists. But when we joined we became more of leaders than activists,” he says.

And now after a dream come true after 43 years, the lawmaker is working to rehabilitate the dilapidated roads in Kangema as well as establish a Medical Training College.

Already, he has set aside Sh30 million for the project, which he says when complete will absorb many students from all over the country.