Cleophas Malala's meteoric rise in politics can only be likened to the story of Simon Makonde. He rose from being a little-known MCA to a powerful Senator and was a heartbeat away from becoming Kakamega's second governor.
Malala came into the limelight after his controversial play by Butere Girls High School, was featured at the national drama festivals giving him an upper hand to contest for the Mahiakalo MCA seat in 2013 on an ODM ticket.
He vied for the Kakamega Senatorial seat on Amani National Congress (ANC) in 2017 and won. He is most remembered in the senate during the dramatic debate over the revenue allocation bill.
In the 2022 August 9 polls, Malala contested on an ANC ticket that was affiliated with the President-elect William Ruto's Kenya Kwanza.
Prior to the August 9 election, Kakamega Senator-elect Boni Khalwale was forced to step down by United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party leader from the race in favor of Malala.
However, after a spirited campaign, Malala was forced to swallow a bitter pill after he was defeated by Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Candidate Fernandez Barasa who won the seat by garnering 192,929 votes against Malala’s 159, 508 votes.
It will be remembered that 3 years ago while on Milele FM, Malala threw a jibe at the current Kakamega Senator-elect Khalwale for being too ambitious in his political career which led to his downfall after he vied for the Kakamega gubernatorial seat in 2017.
“I don’t want to be like that senator who was so ambitious like a dog that carried meat in its mouth while it reached the bridge, it saw a reflection of another dog in the water, and it dropped the meat in the water where it ended up losing everything,” Malala stated
Malala had earlier stated he would concede in the event that he lost the election and urged his competitors to do the same.
However, Malala was forced to eat a humble pie after the Kakamega County Returning Officer declared Fernandez Barasa as the Governor-elect for Kakamega County. The vocal youthful politician conceded defeat by thanking the people of Kakamega for giving him a chance to serve.
“We have accepted the results with our heads held high, I want to thank my competitors Fernandez Barasa and Ayub Savula, there was no vote that was stolen and I thank IEBC,” Malala stated.
However, political analyst Nafula Kisiangani says that Malala will rise politically despite his defeat in the gubernatorial election when he is still young. She further noted that there is always a loser and a winner in an election and opined that Malala might be in government soon or later.
“There is always a winner and a loser in an election, Malala is already in a camp that has a President-elect and he might get a position in government, even some of the Governors who lost in 2017 like Wavinya Ndeti made a comeback.”
