The politics and poetics of Kiraitu Murungi in his new found quest for lasting happiness

Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi during a Council of Governors meeting in Nairobi on December 20, 2021. [File, Standard]

Politician Kiraitu Murungi has quit active politics, a rarity for politicians on this side of the world, at the tender age of 74. Kiraitu, a Harvard-trained lawyer and an icon of the so-called Second Liberation, was overrun by political novice Kawira Mwangaza in the Meru gubernatorial race in 2022.

This, he said, triggered “post-election depression,” which in turn led him to the study of “positive psychology” for nine months. The latter process provoked his reassessment of life and his quest for happiness, leading him to disembark from his “Mbus Party,” which temporarily detoured to State House in the aftermath of his electoral loss. I suspect he found no happiness there either, as Kenyans can attest from afar.

Strange as this sounds, Kiraitu was a source of joy for many of us, regaling the nation with his crude jokes, and laughing even more at his own jokes, rocking his shoulders gently and twisting his mouth.

Ironically, one of the few instances when Kiraitu displayed unalloyed joy was mid-last year when former Meru governor Mwangaza was successfully impeached, after four foiled attempts. This suggests Kiraitu’s existential quest for happiness has somewhat evolved; if it was previously driven by external validation like vanquishing an opponent, now it’s a search for contentment.

In any case, Kiraitu is not one of those empty political debaters that make the utmost noise; he is an intellectual in his own right and a consummate poet whose outputs include Song of my Beloved. We should expect more verse with verve that should give readers abundant happiness as it should its author.