Former British Prime minister Harold Wilson is credited with the famous quote - a day in politics, not a week, is a long time. This rings true in Kenyan politics with the latest example being the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) nomination results.
Just five weeks ago, Kiambu Senator Kimani Wamatangi was serving as the Senate Majority Whip and was a faithful member of the ruling Jubilee Party. Today, he is the UDA candidate in the Kiambu gubernatorial race where he bagged the ticket in the primaries held on Thursday, April 14.
For Wamatangi, the winds of change blew in his favour but for others like, former Energy Cabinet Secretary Charles who have seen their fortunes dwindle within a matter of weeks. In early February, Keter was a Cabinet Secretary - enjoying all the perks of the highest-ranking official in the Ministry of Devolution.
Today, he is a raia, after he lost the Kericho gubernatorial race to little-known Erick Mutai - even after the former CS had bragged that he had never lost an election in his 20-year-political career.
But apart from time, politics has the habit of making strange bedfellows. Take the example of the UDA gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Bii, popularly known as Chelilim Koti Moja.
Bii first run against Ruto in 2002 when they both sought the Kanu ticket for the Eldoret North Parliamentary seat but the seat was won by the man who would later become DP.
In 2007, the Eldoret businessman run a well-oiled campaign against Ruto - then part of the ODM Pentagon. Bii contested on a Kanu candidate and had the backing of the Kibaki government as it sponsored candidates against most of the ODM pentagon members as part of a strategy to keep them busy in their constituencies and away from the national presidential campaign.
Then Kanu chairman Uhuru Kenyatta campaigned for Bii in Eldoret but he only garnered about 20,000 votes against Ruto who received over 100,000 votes.
After Eldoret North was split into two, the charismatic politician stuck with Kanu in 2013 and 2017 where he unsuccessfully sought the Soy parliamentary seat.
He later joined UDA, noting that his poor electoral record was due to his failure to swim with the tide.
“In all the contests that have I have engaged, people have no problem with me neither ballot boxes used; people had issues with the party that I use,” Bii announced in 2019 as he joined Jubilee before following Ruto to UDA.
Last week, he trounced former Ambassador Julius Bitok who is also a former aide to the DP and Caleb Kositany - another insider in the Ruto camp.
For Anne Wamuratha, a former Inooro FM radio presenter and host, her win was also less likely to happen. She is closely related to President Uhuru Kenyatta (married to the same family as Senator Beth Mugo) - who is often on the receiving end of most UDA politicians after the much-publicized fallout with Ruto.
Despite familial links to the President, Wamuratha won the UDA ticket to fly the Kiambu Woman Representative position in the August 9 General Election outscoring Musician Loise Kim, among other candidates. Interestingly, the seat was held by Uhuru's first cousin, Anna Nyokabi, between 2013 and 2017.
Linet Chepkorir, famously known as Toto pulled a surprise after clinching the UDA ticket in the Bomet Woman Representative race. The 24-year-old bagged the ticket beating seasonal political leaders including nominated MCA Cecilia Mutai, Stacy Chepkemoi, Brenda Munai, and Susan Koech.
The Chuka University graduate was catapulted to her victory including an instance where she was termed as an intruder to a meeting that was organised by Ruto at his Karen residence.
Her win was also not expected as a young candidate she did not have funds to bankroll her campaigns in Bomet.
"I have seen campaigns where money is splashed yet I could not even afford the party registration fee, but that did not stop me," she explained, noting that she has now won a lot of support in the region, enough to propel her clinch the seat in the August 9 General Election.
