With the country heading to the August 9 polls in less than 6 months, two Ng'ang'a sisters supporting rival camps made headlines.
Their story highlighted how intense the 2022 General Election will be, gauged by how the two sisters are competing against each other.
Former Thika Town MP Alice Ng'an'ga is seeking to regain her seat through the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) while her sister Bernadette Ng'ang'a is one of the forces behind Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga's Azimio campaigns.
Bernadette, a member of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Party, is eying the Nairobi Women Representatives seat.
If they both clinch the party tickets, they will not become the first politician to belong to rival political parties. Herein is a list of politicians who are related and contested for various seats through rival parties.
1. Moses Wetangula and Timothy Wanyonyi
Westlands MP Timothy Wanyonyi is a close ally of Raila and was elected as an MP via an ODM ticket. On the other hand, his brother and Bungoma Senator Moses Wetangula is the party leader of the Ford-Kenya party leader.
With Wetangula's recent pact with the Kenya Kwanza Alliance, the two brothers will contest on rival parties even as the country readies of the August 9 polls. Wanyonyi is eying the Nairobi Gubernatorial seat while Wetangula is seeking to retain his seat in the August 9 polls.
2. Beatrice Kones and Kelvin Kalya
During the 2017 General Elections, a mother and her son made headlines after they challenged each other for the same seat.
Bomet East MP Beatrice Kones, widow to the late powerful Cabinet Minister Kipkalya Kones contested for the seat on a Jubilee party ticket while her son, Kelvin Kalya, vied through Chama Cha Mashinani. At the time CCM was backing Raila's presidential bid.
On January 31, Kones announced her retirement from active politics and backed her son who declared to vie for the seat on a UDA ticket.
3. Otiende Amollo and Elizabeth Ongoro
As Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo was making his first attempt in politics through the ODM party, his sister Elizabeth Ongoro, contested for the Ruaraka parliamentary seat through Musalia Mudavadi's Amani National Congress (ANC) party.
At the time, Ongoro was a Nominated Senator and ditched ODM following accusations of biased nominations. After the elections, she petitioned the election of Tom Kajwang' who won through ODM.
4. Charles Ong'ondo and Hillary Kiplang'at
In 2017, Kasipiul MP Charles Ong’ondo contested for the seat through the ODM party while his brother-in-law and Kipkelion West MP Hillary Kiplang'at won his seat through the Jubilee party.
During an Interview in 2019, Kiplang'at stated that despite belonging to rival camps, the two of them shared a cordial relationship and he considered his rival as a brother.
"Those moments did not separate the closeness we had with Were. We knew that politically we were from different sides. We used to have tea when we meet, and forget whether there is ODM or Jubilee and just become family," he stated.
5. Christabel Murunga and Eugene Ambwere
The two contested for the Matungu Parliamentary seat as independent candidates in 2021.
Christabel Murunga is the widow of former Matungu MP Justus Murunga while Eugene Ambwere is the former legislator's son. The two lost ANC's, Nabulindo Oscar.
