Children follow parents footsteps in politics

Carol Karimi and Halima Mucheke who are contesteing for different seats in the August 9 polls.

They watched as their parents excelled in politics, and are now bidding to walk the same path.

Children of former politicians from Meru have come out strongly to fight for various political seats.

Leading the pack is Carol ‘CK’ Karimi, who is eyeing the North Imenti parliamentary seat, which also hosts the county headquarters, Meru town.

Her father, Silas Muriuki, was a one-term MP (2008-2013) of the area before it was split to create an additional constituency of Buuri.

Karimi, in her political debut, is running on the ticket of Governor Kiraitu Murungi’s Devolution Empowerment Party (DEP).

Former Cabinet Minister Jackson ‘Harvester’ Angaine was North Imenti MP since independence and held powerful positions in founding President Jomo Kenyatta’s government. He also served in President Daniel Moi’s government between 1983-1992.

Angaine lost the seat to Nteere Mbogori in the 1979 elections. Mbogori’s win earned him a position as assistant minister for Information and Broadcasting for one term up to the 1983 snap elections, when Angaine bounced back.

Decades down the line, Angaine’s son, Mugambi Angaine, is running for Buuri parliamentary seat, also on a DEP ticket. He unsuccessfully vied in 2013 and 2017.

Mbogori’s daughter Elizabeth Kailemia, popularly known as Mama Safi, is seeking the woman rep position for the third time since 2013. She is on a UDA ticket.

Still in North Imenti, Nominated MP Halima Mucheke is running for the parliamentary seat on a UDA ticket. Mucheke is a daughter of the late Yusuf Musa Mucheke who was mayor of Meru for two terms and served as a councillor for many years.

As he bids to unseat Governor Kiraitu, Senator Mithika Linturi has named lawyer Linda Kiome from North Imenti as his running mate.

Kiome is the daughter of former Municipality Ward MCA Kiome Rimbere, who previously served as councillor and mayor in the defunct municipal council.

Karimi Muriuki said she is no stranger to politics, having watched her father in action. She says she used to accompany him on the campaign trail as she grew up.

In the hotly contested 2017 elections, Karimi was her father’s strategist as he sought to recapture the seat from MP Rahim Dawood.

“On the periphery I have always been in politics. Growing up I used to accompany him everywhere to all his meetings. Sometimes he would give me an opportunity to speak, when I was little. When I finished school I got into his campaign team, and became deputy campaign manager. But in the 2017 I was his strategy manager,” Karimi said.

She said change is needed in North Imenti.

“My priority is education, which is very important. We need to activate and raise our education standards. Those are things that will define us,” she said, adding that she wants to improve rural roads and other infrastructural projects, and agriculture.

Mucheke, who has earned the support of Deputy President William Ruto in her quest for the North Imenti seat, said she wants to serve the community.

She said she wants to solve water, electricity, road and education challenges in some areas, including in Nyaki West.

Although the Njuri Ncheke Council of Elders is an apolitical group, former late Chairman Paul Ethingia’s son Mutuma Ethingia has thrown his hat into the ring, after Woman Rep Kawira Mwangaza picked him as her running mate as she also goes for the governor’s seat.

Further away in Nairobi, former Tigania East MP Adama Mathew Karauri’s son Ronald Karauri is running for Kasarani parliamentary seat as an independent ticket.