Meru governor-elect, Kawira Mwangaza, recalled how she ran bankrupt after spending over Ksh20 million on her first campaign.
Mwangaza, who trounced Meru political giants including Kiraitu Murungi and Mithika Linturi, revealed that she lost over Ksh20 million during her first stab at elective politics.
Mwangaza unsuccessfully contested the Buuri parliamentary seat in 2013 but lost to Boniface Kinoti Gatobu, an independent candidate.
After the loss, she started hawking vegetable in Nairobi estates with her husband, Murega Baichu, in order to meet their daily needs.
"In 2013, when I was contesting for a parliamentary seat in Buuri, we spent over Ksh20 million," she narrated.
"The campaign spending spree left us bankrupt. I resolved to start selling tomatoes, and other farms produce in Ruai and Kawangware."
Financially injured, Mwangaza and her husband, a musician, decided to try their luck by investing in the media industry. They launched Mwangaza TV, an online media station.
Her passion for media also pushed her to acquire a stake in Baite Television, a station that broadcasts in the Meru dialect.
According to Murega, the TV station catapulted Mwangaza's rise in politics.
In 2017, she won the Woman Representative position after beating then incumbent, Florence Kajuju, who had the blessings of the Jubilee Party led by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Mwangaza, who was forced to work as a house help to raise funds to pay for her high school education, defied all odds to garner 209,148 votes in this year's gubernatorial race, while her closest competitor, Mithika Linturi of UDA, got 183,859 votes.
The Chief Executive Officer of Mwangaza TV and a pastor, studied at Kampala International University, where she graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Education in Guidance and Counselling in 2011. She also holds a certificate in Human Resource Management from Makerere University.
Mwangaza maintained that she intends to deliver all her campaign pledges to the people of Meru. She joined the list of women elected as governors in the just concluded elections.
Other elected female governors include Fatuma Achani (Kwale), Gladys Wanga (Homabay), Susan Kihika (Nakuru), Anne Waiguru (Kirinyaga) and Cecily Mbarire (Embu).
