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How Jamleck Kamau lost Murang’a race that was his to lose

 

If there was a seat that the Jubilee Party had high hopes of clinching in the Mt Kenya region in the August 9 elections, it is that of Murang’a governor.

The party had convinced a front-runner, Jamleck Kamau, to contest on its ticket and proceeded to issue him with a direct ticket.

Many also opine that Mr Kamau represented the most believable deal for Murang’a residents because he focused on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), offering practical solutions like offering credit and dispatching financial coaches for startups.

Mr Kamau also promised realistic increases in agricultural returns through subsidies, value addition and restructuring markets to rid them of imperfections and distortions.

He also promised practical, hands-on management of the health sector, with sanity in the procurement of medical supplies, supervision to beat corruption and duty negligence, and empowering dispensaries as the first stop for the sick.

Mr Kamau also pledged to hire Early Childhood Development Education teachers and build baby-care units where mothers who could afford domestic helpers could leave their babies as they hustled to make a living.

“The majority had their way, but this is the best governor you will not have for now …,” said Murang’a Young Business Community chair Isaac Mwangi.

The advantages that Mr Kamau would bring into the contest were so significant that analysts viewed the seat as his to lose.

His attributes were that he is generally a nice man, philanthropic and charismatic.

Mr Kamau represented the Murang’a South bloc, which has Kigumo, Kandara, Maragua and Gatanga constituencies, with a combined 391,436 voters – 161,943 more than the north bloc that has Kiharu, Kangema and Mathioya. The total number of registered voters in both areas is 620,929.

Jubilee’s thinking was that if Mr Kamau took the south votes as a bloc, the seat would come home.

He also came into the contest with several strengths – a two-term MP in Kigumo, a previous run for governor in 2017, a former Nairobi metropolitan minister, a successful businessman, and wealth.

“Mr Kamau needs no introduction to the voters, he can match a shilling for a shilling for all the other contestants, is a friend to the state and can appeal to all divides of voters,” read the rating report that the county commissioner’s office in Murang’a had forwarded to the Jubilee secretariat.

Vetting candidates

Administrators were heavily involved in vetting Jubilee candidates in the Mt Kenya region.

Mr Kamau had initially refused to join any political party, saying he had been rigged out in the 2017 Jubilee gubernatorial primaries, where Mwangi wa Iria beat him with over 205,000 votes against his 18,000.

“The kind of political theft that I was handed in 2017 makes it impossible for me to associate with any party that will subject me to nominations. I am ready to go into this as my own man in my own vehicle,” he had declared.

At the time Mr Kamau said this, he was aware that William Ruto's United Democratic Alliance (UDA) wave was sweeping across the Mt Kenya region and was characterised by raw distaste for President Uhuru Kenyatta and Jubilee.

On top of that, the President and his party had fronted Mr Raila Odinga – a hard sell in the region – for the presidency.

Mr Kamau was in a big dilemma. He had spent his five years out of power to throw all manner of political barbs at Deputy President William Ruto, accusing him of plotting his 2017 nomination defeat in favour of Mr Wa Iria.

Because Dr Ruto was the UDA party leader and had openly endorsed Dr Irungu Kang’ata for governor, it was certain that if Mr Kamau joined the nomination race, he would be cooked alive. If he joined Jubilee, he felt this would be risking too much.

“But the President has convinced us that he is sure that Mr Odinga will be declared President and he will personally campaign in Mt Kenya region to help us fend off the UDA and Dr Ruto wave. I am convinced that I am joining the winning side,” Mr Kamau declared.

He hit the road running, initially refusing to endorse Mr Odinga, only saying that he was contesting on behalf of President Kenyatta. But the Jubilee secretariat demanded that he host all meetings involving Mr Odinga, his running mate Martha Karua and the Mount Kenya Foundation in Murang’a County.

The meetings would be broadcast live by area vernacular stations, and with time, Mr Kamau, President Kenyatta, Mr Odinga Ms Karua, Jubilee and the Mount Kenya Foundation became one big inseparable political equation.

But, surprisingly, Mr Kamau kept his footing on the ground, with the South bloc embracing him as their saviour from domination by the north, which had in the past two general elections scooped all the top seats of governor, senator and woman rep. The south felt that it was their time and Jubilee had presented their own (Mr Kamau) for governor and Waithira Muithirania for woman rep.

By July, Mr Kamau was holding on strongly, until a list he had submitted as the favourite nominees to the county assembly was leaked.

“The list became his poisoned chalice because it contained media personalities, Jubilee Party friends and relatives … Those who were doing the donkey work were not there,” a source said. His camp started being hit by defections.

That is how his other side of being choosy, introverted and hard to please emerged, and in politics, it is advisable that those attributes remain safely under lock and key.

His competitors were not sleeping either and had marked him as a common enemy in the campaigns. Propaganda mercenaries were deployed and his name started being soiled with all manner of claims, ranging from Mungiki ties, murder and narcotics.

Mr Kamau never made any attempt to clear his name and he soldiered on flamboyantly, deploying caravans deep into the grassroots and ensuring many went home ‘happy’ from his meetings.

With the propaganda against him merging with the negative reception of the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party in the county, his footing started sinking.

Mr Kamau, 57, had "Kabisa Kabisa" as his slogan and was known to be a billboard for a deep pocket in his campaigns.

When Dr Ruto and his brigade, led by Rigathi Gachagua, Ndindi Nyoro and Alice Wahome, trained their guns on Jubilee in the county, the little footing he had intact caved and swallowed his chances.

When the vote was called, Mr Kamau, who had been rated as the clear frontrunner, received 91,164 votes, with Dr Kang’ata running away with the race with 256,561. Dr Ruto and his UDA had eclipsed Jubilee.

His ardent supporters included the Federation of Women Educationists (Fawe), whose coordinator Cecilia Gitu said: “We are now sure that propaganda is a powerful tool, party politics important and how we consolidate trust with our loyalists is also key. That is where our win slipped off our fingers.”

If he addressed those issues, he certainly would give Dr Kang’ata a run for his money in the 2027 General Election.

He had vied unsuccessfully for Kigumo MP in 2002 on a Kanu ticket and supported Mr Kenyatta’s presidential bid when the wave at the time was Narc under Mwai Kibaki.

He was elected MP in 2007 and served two terms before seeking and losing the governor’s seat in 2017.

Polygamous, Mr Kamau is an investor in the security, real estate, flour and stocks sectors.   BY DAILY NATION   

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