Parliament Speaker's Little-known Acting Career

Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka who is also a former Bungoma governor has for long been seen as a force to reckon with in power circles, where many know him as a serious politician-cum-moderator, but unknown to many, Lusaka is a talented actor.

In a report by The Standard, Lusaka stated that he could have become an actor, had he not ventured into politics.

“If I wasn’t a politician, I would have been an artist, in terms of acting. I am good at drama, by the way.

“I just need to stay with you for about two or three days and I can act the way you do,” remarked Lusaka.

Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka at a consultative meeting with members of the World Scout Parliamentary Union (WSPU) from Korea on November 28, 2019

He recounted the many times he performed set books while at the University of Nairobi, an opportunity that invoked the acting talent that lay in him.

The speaker remembered how he became part of the theatre group, playing the lead roles such as Wamala in The Burdens, Antoni in The Merchant of Venice and Mulili in Betrayal in The City.

“I studied Literature in First Year 1996, and then I realised it was very involving. Since I didn’t want to be a teacher, I dropped it and took political science and history,” remembered Lusaka.

The inborn talent has however not gone unutilised for the former governor who insists that it helped him a lot in the field of politics and also in the Senate while moderating the proceedings.

“Art is critical because sometimes you need it to break a stalemate. When the debate is so intense to the point of people disagreeing and there is a lot of tension, you can throw in a comment, a light moment and the whole house lights up and the tension goes down.

“Or maybe you make a joke about someone who has spoken something very serious, and he ends up laughing and it ends up reversing an otherwise tense situation,” added Lusaka.

The 56-year-old couldn’t hide his affection to being a Godly man, hardly finishing a statement without invoking the name of God, owing to a series of lucky breaks, seemingly always being at the right place at the right time.

“One thing I know about my life is that God has been very gracious to me. There are many things that have happened that don’t look ordinary,” remarked Lusaka.

Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka at a consultative meeting with officials of the County Assemblies Forum (CAF) on November 6, 2019