In Nyandarua, the party ticket seals your fate

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Posted  Thursday, January 3  2013 at  21:08

IN SUMMARY

• TNA dynamo not for county positions alone, but trickles down to both parliamentary and civic seats as well

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In a region with a history of voting as a bloc, the March elections are bound to be no different. The Uhuru Kenyatta factor has been particularly evident in the number of aspiring candidates scrambling for the TNA nomination ticket.

In the gubernatorial, senatorial and women representative contest for example, all aspirants are contesting under the TNA umbrella.

Notably, no other political party apart from GNU and UDF has officially opened its offices in Nyandarua County.

Nonetheless, the Uhuru and TNA dynamo has not been restricted to the gubernatorial, senatorial and women representative positions, but has also trickled down to both parliamentary and civic seats.

According to Kinangop MP David Ngugi, who is contesting on the TNA ticket, TNA is the choice party for the people of Nyandarua and any aspiring candidate has little choice but to submit to the people’s will.

With strict guidelines on party hopping by January 18, it remains to be seen how the losing candidates will react after the TNA nominations. Previously, losing candidates in Nyandarua have been known to jump parties after losing in the nominations.

In the race for governor, those contesting include former Association of Kenya Insurers chairman and Kinangop MP Mr David Ngugi, Mr Peter Gathimba, and a school proprietor Mr Daniel Waithaka Mwangi.

Mr Daniel Waithaka is not new in Nyandarua politics. In 2007, he contested the Ol Kalou parliamentary seat on a Mazingira Greens Party ticket after losing out to Mr Erastus Mureithi in the PNU primaries.

In Nyandarua, the senatorial position created by the new dispensation has attracted few contenders. They are former Ol Kalou MP Mr Muriuki Karue and new comer Mr Patrick Kimani Wairiri.

Mr Karue is widely being considered a serious contender due to his legislative and development track record. He was the chief architect of the largely successful Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

Speaking to Nation, Mr Karue expressed hope that he would capture the senatorial seat. He added that his politics have always been development oriented, a drive that gives him an edge over the other candidate.

An engineering professional, Mr Karue has vowed that he will ensure the Potato Act is implemented. The law requires potato bags be sold in packages of 110 kilograms unlike the 200 kilograms that farmers have been forced to pack.

“Nyandarua is a chief source of potatoes and that was the primary reason I pushed for the enactment of the law while still an MP. However, since leaving office, the law was never implemented and today farmers are forced to pack their potatoes in bags of 200 kilograms.”

Subsequently, the county has been losing approximately Sh20 million per week with the 200 bag going for as low as Sh800. Mr Karue says that having been a leader in Nyandarua and succeeded to implement numerous development projects and legislations such as the Ol Kalou Cooling Plant and the Potato Act, he is proof that he will honour his pledges.

Mr Karue left active politics in 2007 after losing in the PNU parliamentary nominations. He has since then been in private engineering practice.

His rival, Mr Patrick Wairiri is said to have hardly traversed the county campaigning. However, Mr Wairiri, through his office, has dismissed this claim, saying that he has been seriously campaigning and should not be dismissed.

Young people

He says that the time for young people to assume leadership has arrived.

“I believe it’s time for young people to take on the leadership role. As senator, I will advance policies, initiate and support programmes that are geared towards job creation for our youth.”

Mr Wairiri is promising to modernise Nyandarua’s agricultural production technology, mitigate against losses incurred through natural elements, increase affordability of appropriate farm inputs, and improve producer power in the marketplace.

Following the newly created constituencies, Nyandarua County shall consist of five constituencies namely Ol Kalou, Kinangop, Kipipiri, Ndaragwa, and the newly created Ol Joro-orok constituency.

It has a population of 596,268 with 200,000 people having been registered in the new Biometric Voter Registration process.

The race for women representative has attracted the highest number of contestants with five women declaring their interest.

Among those contesting for the seat include a former United Nations official Ms Faith Gitau, Ms Beatrice Kamau, an executive director at the Centre for Social Studies and Reforms (NGO), and Ms Wanjku Muhia a former human resource chief at Equity Bank.

Ironically though, the gubernatorial, senatorial and women representative positions are not being as fiercely contested as the parliamentary and civic seats in Nyandarua.

Apparently, they are perceived to be financially consuming. Says civic aspirant Kamau Waweru Ngotho: “The campaigns are inevitably going to be financially draining. If you are going for gubernatorial, senatorial or women representative, you not only have to reach out to voters in your constituency but to voters in the whole county. You need highly effective campaign machinery and that requires a lot of funding.”

Among the gubernatorial contestants, Mr David Ngugi is promising to ensure that feeder roads within Nyandarua are well constructed and maintained to enable farmers in the agriculture-based economy county reach the newly constructed Njabi-Ini -Ol Kalou-Ndundori Road.

Of the 1,055.4 kilometre road network in Nyandarua, only 297.3 have bitumen surface.

“We are an agriculture based economy and our farmers will need accessible feeder roads in order to transport their farm produce to the main road,” Mr Ngugi says.

Agriculture and road infrastructure have dominated pledges by all aspirants. Nyandarua County is believed to have enough potential to feed the whole of Kenya, but is unable to due to poor infrastructure.

Mr Ngugi further says that he will seek to transform the JM Kariuki Mission Hospital (formerly Ol Kalou District Hospital) into a referral hospital.

Mr Ngugi is perceived to have performed well in the management of the CDF within his Kinangop constituency, and his popularity has remained entrenched in the area.

With the county’s poverty level standing at 46.3 per cent, Mr Daniel Waithaka Mwangi says his main objective will be to turn the county’s subsistence farming into a thriving agribusiness. He adds that he will initiate wealth creation projects for the youth who comprise 70 per cent of the population.