How I won the Jubilee ticket - School Cook speaks after beating incumbent in nominations

A 45-year-old high school kitchen cook won a Jubilee Party ticket to vie for a Member of the County Assembly seat in the August 8 polls.

Daniel Ngetich, a cook at Sosiot Girls Secondary School in Kericho County, pulled a surprise in the primaries when he beat the incumbent MCA for Waldai ward, John Too, and a host of other aspirants to clinch the party ticket.

In results that, unlike in many wards across the country, were not 'cooked,' the residents of Waldai mobilised their meagre resources to hand the ticket to the unassuming kitchen worker.

Now well on his way to becoming a member of the Kericho County Assembly, Mr Ngetich used one of his everyday tools - a wooden cooking stick locally known as muganget - to endear himself to ward residents whose main economic activity is small-scale farming and cattle rearing.

“I had not saved much money in my seven years as a cook at Sosiot Secondary School but when I announced my political intentions, I was overwhelmed by ordinary residents who provided their boda boda motorcycles or contributed Sh100, sometimes less, to fund my campaign,” said Ngetich.

The MCA aspirant also employed door-to-door campaigns to win the hearts of Waldai residents and convince them to reject a powerful line-up of political, professional and business bigwigs who were also in the race to join the local county assembly.

“While my competitors thought that money would buy them the Jubilee ticket, Waldai residents knew me as a cook and did not even bother to ask me for money, only my campaign pledges,” said Ngetich.

Business studies

A diploma holder in business studies from Nishkam Saint Puran Sikh Institute, Ngetich said it was the injustices that the poor face that motivated him to join politics.

“The injustices that low-income earning Kericho residents endure such as discrimination during employment, distribution of school bursaries and enterprise fund among other reasons are what drove me to join politics. I want to be the defender of ordinary Kericho residents’ constitutional rights,” he said.

The aspiring ward representative told The Standard at his Kipteldel village home near Sosiot that job creation, especially among the youth, was his first priority.

“I will set funds aside to purchase equipment for youth groups so they can open barbershops, salons, shoeshine stands and car wash businesses among other legal income generating projects,” he said.

The budding politician promised his supporters that although he was set to earn a bigger salary than he ever dreamed of as a cook, he would not let his new position go to his head and forget his humble roots.

“I will not stay away from the people because they are the ones who have made me who I am. I am going to work with them in every village activity aimed at improving their living standards," he said.