When Annrita Karimi threw her hat into the murky waters of politics in the 1974 General Election, she had little experience but a willing heart and burning ambition to lead the people of the then Meru Central constituency.
The fact that no woman had done what she wanted to achieve did not deter her from trying to live her dream.
And, trying, she did.
The first-timer politician had all reasons not to run for the then male-dominated affair and braved all intimidation. Still, she gave it a shot and lost to the then much-experienced politician – Kabeere M’mbijiwe, but the tables would later turn in her favour.
Meru's first female Member of Parliament, Annrita Karimi, resigned twice as a teacher to go into politics, got the seat but was hounded out of office 40 years ago.
Her father’s reservations
Before trying her hands in the then-patriarchal Meru politics, Karimi left the country for her higher education in the United States, where she obtained her degree in Education.
She was in the US from 1967 to 1970.
According to the former legislator, who would later find out that politics was not her thing and went back to the classroom, she endured a lot of struggles during her studies abroad but fixed her eyes on the goal.
After returning to Kenya, her father had a lot of reservations over her leaving the ‘respected’ teaching career for a gamble in politics.
Karimi, however, decided to follow her heart.
“I had this burning ambition to lead and I believed being an MP would give me the opportunity to serve the people. Nothing could stop me from vying so I quit my job,” she recalled during an interview at her home in Igoji, Imenti South.
Lost in her first shot
Karimi lost in the 1974 General Election, coming a distant fourth with only 2,000 votes.
But, as fate would have it, her fortunes changed after a petition launched in a Nairobi court was allowed and saw the ouster of the then winner, the well-connected, influential, and one of the region’s then President Jomo Kenyatta’s point men, Kabeere M’Mbijiwe.
“I was asked to be part of the petition but I refused because I had no complaints, although they included my name. Against my wish, I was paraded as a witness during the petition,” Karimi recalled.
In 1975, Karimi resigned for the second time to run in the 1975 by-election after M’Mbijiwe’s win was nullified.
She won with a landslide against all odds in the by-election, beat powerful men in the patriarchal Meru politics, and became the first female MP in the entire Meru region.
“I was happy,” the now 82-year-old Karimi reminisced.
Short-lived victory
But her victory and happiness would be short-lived, and a gloomy phase of her life set in.
In 1978, Karimi was accused of allegedly embezzling money when she was a headmistress at St. Mary’s Secondary School in 1972, in a turn of events that haunted her political life since.
A Meru Magistrate court found her guilty towards the end of 1978 and sent her to prison for two years, consequently losing her parliamentary seat.
Her subsequent appeal at a High Court in Nairobi was thrown out.
The Appellate Court upheld the High Court decision, further worsening her woes.
Of the controversial judgment
The judgment has been criticized on many legal platforms in the country for over four decades.
Many have termed it a “travesty of justice that sought to serve the then oppressive KANU regime”.
A number of petitions have been thrown out, with judges citing Karimi’s case.
When serving her jail sentence, Karimi noted she wished she could have listened to the counsel of her father and remained a teacher.
Karimi would be released in 1979.
She immediately quit politics and returned to her first love, the teaching profession, until she retired in 1994.
Advise to the embattled Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza
Recently, Karimi advised the embattled Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza after she survived an impeachment threat from the county’s MCAs at the Senate.
“That is what politicians did to me and I ask my sister to be careful when dealing with them. I admire her for the work she is doing in the community and she should soldier on,” she told The Nation.
“I advise her to stop being confrontational and approach issues with caution. She should not provoke other leaders because they will fight back,” she added.
