Kenyattas won't be in Parliament for first time since independence

When Mama Ngina Kenyatta was sworn in as Mayor of Nairobi in 1972. [File, Standard] For the first time since independence, founding President Jomo Kenyatta's kin will be out of Parliament. The Wednesday Gazette notice on Nominated MPs ended any hope of the Kenyattas being in the House after Kristina Wambui Pratt failed to make it to the list. Her name had been presented by President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee Party. The faint hope that the Kenyatta family had harboured of retaining a foothold in Parliament was through Pratt, President Uhuru Kenyatta's sister, who's currently the chair of the National Fund for the Disabled of Kenya. The president's sister, who is married to Liberia-born Victor Pratt, was number two in the Jubilee Party list of Nominated Senators while immediate former Uasin Gishu Senator Margaret Kamar was number one. But with just token representation in the Senate, Jubilee could only get Prof Kamar through nomination. Jubilee elected senators are Fatuma Dullo (Isiolo), Abdulkadir Haji (Garissa) and Joseph Githuku (Lamu). The Kenyatta family was thrust into the political scene when the Kikuyu Central Association (KCA) sent Nairobi city meter reader and family patriarch then known as Johnstone Kamau Ngengi to present a land rights petition to the Queen of Britain. The man, who would later be known as Jomo Kenyatta, became Kenya's first prime minister in 1963 and president in 1964. His family has held a huge sway in Kenya's politics spanning decades. Larger Gatundu Between 1964 and 1974, the founding father who was MP for larger Gatundu sat in the House alongside his nephew Dr Njoroge Mungai (Dagorreti), niece Jemimah Gichaga (Nominated) and brother-in-law Mbiyu Koinange from Kiambaa. In 1974, the four were joined by Jomo's eldest son Peter Muigai Kenyatta, who was elected Juja MP after defeating freedom fighter Gitu wa Kahengeri. By 1979 elections, Mzee Kenyatta had died and was replaced by another nephew Ngengi Muigai as Dr Mungai recaptured his Dagorreti parliamentary seat after he replaced his sister as Nominated MP after losing in 1974 to Dr Johnstone Muthiora. Peter Muigai died in a tragic stumble during the 1979 elections and Kahengeri reclaimed his seat unopposed while Koinange lost to tycoon Njenga Karume. In 1983 elections, the Kenyatta family reclaimed the Juja seat through his brother-in-law George Muhoho while Ngengi retained his seat but Dr Mungai lost to Christopher Kamuyu. In 1992 and 1997, Mzee Kenyatta's niece Beth Mugo was elected Dagoretti MP on Democratic Party ticket and was joined by Uhuru in a midterm nomination to Parliament in 2001 before he was anointed as the late former President Moi's preferred successor. Motherland seat In 2002, Uhuru reclaimed their motherland seat, Gatundu South, and retained it in 2007 elections before he clinched the presidency in 2013. The 2013 elections saw the election of more Kenyatta kin into Parliament even as Ms Mugo won a fifth term in Parliament as Daggoreti MP. The newly elected Kenyatta kin to Parliament were Paul Koinange in Kiambaa and Anne Nyokabi Gatheca as Kiambu Woman Rep. Gatheca lost in 2017 but Koinange was re-elected and Mugo was Nominated as senator. Another relative Anne Wanjiku Kibe was elected Gatundu North MP. Koinange died on March 31, 2021 paving the way for a by-election. Meanwhile, the family of Kenya's first Vice-President Jaramogi Odinga Oginga retains presence in Parliament after the August 9 polls even after the man holding the chieftain - Raila Odinga failed to clinch the presidency. Raila's brother Oburu Oginga is the new Siaya senator after serving for five years at the East Africa Legislative Assembly (Eala). Dr Oginga was elected to Eala after losing the Bondo parliamentary seat. Also elected in the just-concluded polls is Ruth Odinga, a former Kisumu deputy governor who will now serve as Kisumu Woman Rep. Dr Oginga's eldest son, Jaoko Oburu, shelved his ambitions for the Langata parliamentary seat while his brother Elijah Oburu, lost in the ODM Kisumu Central Parliamentary seat primaries. Jalang'o Midiwo, Raila's first cousin, lost to Elisha Odhiambo in the ODM nominations for the Gem parliamentary seat. The Odinga's have also been in Parliament since independence save for the period between 1969 and 1992 when Jaramogi's Kenya Peoples Union (KPU) was proscribed before they made a comeback in the multiparty democracy. Speaking of the Kenyattas political fortunes ahead of the August 9 polls, the president's cousin Capt (rtd) Kung'u Muigai said the Jomo first Family could fare badly this time. "There is ambition and there is talent. Leaders from our family will come up naturally," he said. Kung'u said no larger family meeting had been held ahead of Uhuru's exit from power to deliberate their political future.

Kenyattas won't be in Parliament for first time since independence

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