Why these political leaders lost the 2022 elections: Vote tallying has been underway for the past couple of days across the country, as Kenyans decided their new lead representatives at senior government elective positions.

Some results have already been announced and several political veterans seem to have lost the 2022 elections after being on the political scene for years.

Let us take a look at some of these incumbent leaders who have ceded their seats to newly elected leaders.

1. Gideon Moi

KANU party leader Gideon Moi lost the senatorial race to UDA’s William Cheptumo. In what is being described as the end of an era in Baringo county, Gideon Moi will now remain cold unless given an appointive role in the case that Azimo La Umoja wins the presidential votes.

William Cheptumo beat Gideon Moi by 70,000 votes sealing his win and ending the Moi dynasty’s reign in Baringo County. In what is being described as a ‘yellow wave’ that has hit the Rift valley region and Mount Kenya areas, most UDA ticket candidates have been successful in their bids.

With an ongoing silent battle between the Moi family and the Ruto family over power and support in the Rift Valley, Gideon Moi is yet to concede to Ruto’s led United Democratic Alliance.

Baringo was regarded as the KANU’s political bedrock, being the hometown of the late retired president Daniel Moi who ruled the country for 24 years and served as MP for more than 40 years.

William Cheptumo, the former 15-year MP in Baringo North now leads the people of Baringo and represents them in the Senate.

“I thank my people for electing me to serve them for the next five years as their senator,” he said while receiving his IEBC certificate.

2. Kiraitu Murungi

Kiraitu Murungi has just lost the first election that he has campaigned in 30 years. The Meru governor has lost the seat to Meru’s incumbent Women Representative, Kawira Mwangaza who had 209,158 votes.

Kiraitu came third with 110,850 votes and Senator Mithika Linturi was second with 183,859 votes. Kiraitu’s fall from grace is mainly attributed to accusations of nepotism, poor service delivery and failure to respect elected leaders.

Kiraitu had planned to regain his seat and retire from politics honorably in the next elections. After winning 7 consecutive elections, 6 parliamentary and 1 gubernatorial, not even in his wildest dreams did he imagine that he would fail to be reelected, only for him to be dusted by Kawira and Linturi.

Kiraitu Murungi had dismissed Ms. Kawira Mwangaza’s bid for the gubernatorial position saying that she ‘lacked academic qualifications’. During the Meru gubernatorial debate, Murungi proudly announced that losing was not an option for him.

“That question does not arise because I will not lose. How can I lose?” he quipped when asked if he would concede defeat in case he lost.

After 3 decades of serving Meru people in elective positions, the 70-year-old Harvard schooled lawyer is now shown the door out of active politics by Ms. Kawira who has been handed her IEBC certificate.

3. Polycarp Igathe

The former Equity Chief Commercial Officer just lost his bid to become Nairobi’s governor via Jubilee Party after securing 594,305 votes. The winner and his rival, incumbent senator Johnson Sakaja had 811,734 votes vying on a UDA ticket.

It was one of the most anticipated races in the country, to see who would become the governor of Nairobi County. Some opinion polls had initially showed that the two were neck to neck, but the momentum visibly shifted towards Sakaja after the televised gubernatorial debate.

Despite several questions about his university degree, most viewers believed that Sakaja had performed much better than Igathe. The former Nairobi deputy governor in the Kidero regime struggled on many fronts, and there was a general feeling that he lacked a grasp of Nairobi matters.

Johnson Sakaja is one of the few UDA success stories in highly populated ODM Nairobi. Sakaja will now become Nairobi’s fourth governor but will face a herculean task working with a County Assembly packed with the opposition.

4. Lee Kinyanjui

 

The talk in the country, Nakuru women leaders leading all elective seats. Incumbent governor Lee Kinyanjui lost his bid on a Jubilee ticket to become Nakuru County’s governor for a second term. He was floored by his senator Susan Kihika of UDA who managed to garner 440,707 votes. Lee Kinyanjui got 225,623 votes.

Lee Kinyanjui has not taken the news of his defeat well, saying that he is unsatisfied citing there was fraud and manipulation of the electoral process. He has vowed to move to court to challenge the IEBC results. He claims that his agents, unlike other contesting candidates’ agents, were denied access to some polling stations.

Nakuru’s IEBC returning officer said that Ms. Kihika had floored Kinyanjui in all 11 constituencies.

More to follow…