Dagoretti South MP John Kiarie narrated how he escaped death by a whisker, while he was campaigning for his parliamentary seat in 2013.
Kiarie, opened up about his scars, during an Engage Talk called, 'The scars I carry'.
"When I was on the campaign trail, I was attacked by a gang of goons," the former comedian revealed.
"Some opponents did not want me on the ballot paper, and they sent some goons because they wanted me dead," the legislator added.
According to the ex-Redykyulass star, the attack left his left hand severely injured.
"I was really beaten to a pulp. And before I passed out, these guys who had been surrounding me with these crude weapons, one of them attempted to hit my head, so I lifted my arm and the jembe stick hit my hand and it went limp."
The MP, popularly known as KJ, was hospitalised and within a few weeks, he was back on the campaign trail but this time, he decided to employ different tactics that would be less dangerous for his life and help his career.
The former comedian decided to get the attention of ODM party leader Raila Odinga in what he says was as a result of “being boldly foolish” and in a shocking twist, earned him the party’s nomination.
“It does help if you are a political candidate if your presidential candidate knows you… I was sure my candidate did not know me and I made a decision I was going to be boldly foolish and find a way to get to him. The opportunity for me was the day he was presenting his papers at KICC to the Electoral Commission and I said I will look for an opportunity to shake the candidate's hand, he will know there is a candidate by the name John KJ Kiarie,” Kiarie recalls.
In 2017, KJ floored then area MP Dennis Waweru to clinch the Dagoretti South Jubilee party ticket garnering 9,793 votes to emerge first while Waweru managed 9,051 votes.
