As the 2022 general elections draw near, a number of young people have already expressed their interest in vying for political seats.
In Siaya, former NTV investigative reporter Steve Juma, 30, is eyeing the senator seat which is currently held by Senate Minority Leader James Orengo.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, the journalist explained that his motivation to go for the political seat stemmed from his work in media where he exposed the rot in government.
"It is time for young people to go for these elective seats and we need to debunk the notion that you must have a lot of money to run for a political seat," he stated noting that he had received encouragement to run because of how vocal he was on issues on national interest.
Juma, who covered high-profile cases including the murders of Lawyer Willy Kimani, Jacob Juma and Chris Msando stated that through Senate, he would be able to push for legislation that benefit the majority of Kenyans.
"It is so unfortunate, that we are called Jokanam (people from the lake) but we are still bound by colonial treaties that we cannot use the lake waters. Those are matters of legislation," the Tana River County Director of Communications lamented.
Orengo has been the Siaya Senator since 2013 retaining his seat with a landslide in the following election.
However, there are reports that he will be gunning for the governorship seat in 2022 with Raila's brother Oburu Odinga poised to replace him.
Juma looks to follow in Jubilee secretary-general Raphael Tuju's footsteps who successfully switched from media into a pivotal position in the Kenyan political history.
Over the years, several journalists have gone on to win political seats with the 2017 elections seeing Jicho Pevu’s Mohammed Ali clinching the Nyali MP seat and Enoch Wambua becoming taking the Kitui Senator.
Murang'a Woman Representative Sabina Chege was a radio presenter at Kameme FM and later head of Radio at Coro FM before venturing into politics. Her Kiambu counterpart Gathoni Wamuchomba was also a presenter at Kameme FM before launching her bid for the county seat and was elected in 2017 with close to one million votes.
Several other media personalities have declared their intention to vie for seats in 2022. Milele FM presenter Alex Mwakideu confirmed that he wanted to vie for the Wundayi Parliamentary seat with his Kiss FM counterpart Felix Odiwuor aka Jalang'o eyeing the Lang'ata legislative position.
Former Citizen TV anchor Jacque Maribe in an interview hinted at going for an elective seat with rapper Jackson Makini aka CMB Prezzo in June 2020, revealing that he would be running for the Kibra Parliamentary seat in 2022.
