Why Senator Kiraitu takes title of king of ‘political reinvention’

Meru Senator Kiraitu Murungi addresses the press at Hotel La Mada on September 1, 2016. Mr Murungi has approached each election with a new outfit since the second phase of political pluralism in 1992. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Mr Murungi tops the party-hopping list, having so far been elected to Parliament on five different party tickets.
  • Mr Murungi, the king of them all, first represented the people of Meru South on a Ford-Kenya ticket.

The tradition of political mergers and coalitions in the country has equally facilitated the culture of party-hopping.

Meru County Senator Kiraitu Murungi, for instance, has approached each election with a new outfit since the second phase of political pluralism in 1992.

And if he vies for an electoral seat via the newly launched Jubilee Party, Mr Murungi will register an unmatched record in Kenya’s electoral history.

Mr Murungi one of the architects of the Jubilee Party, made his debut in elective politics in 1992 through the Ford-Kenya party and, ever since, has changed parties each election year teaming up with virtually all political bigwigs in the country, including presidents Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Kenya’s first Vice-President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga.

The experience of the former Cabinet minister easily epitomises the fluidity of Kenyan politics.

Indeed this has been the trend since the end of the one-party state in 1992.

Mr Murungi, who together with other players spearheaded the unveiling of the Jubilee Party on Saturday, tops the party-hopping list, having so far been elected to Parliament on five different party tickets.

Indeed very few politicians can match Kiraitu’s record.

Those who have similarly “reinvented” themselves politically several times include Mr Odinga of Cord - who has been elected on four different parties - Ford Kenya, National Development Party, NARC and ODM - and Laikipia Senator Geoffrey Gitahi Kariuki, who has served as legislator on Kanu, Democratic Party, Party of National Unity and The National Alliance.

Incidentally, he is the only MP in Kenya’s Parliament today who served in the inaugural House in 1963.

Other key beneficiaries of the political mergers and coalitions culture include former Vice-President and Cord co-principal Kalonzo Musyoka, who has served the people of Mwingi North constituency via Kanu, NARC and ODM-Kenya. In 2013 polls he was a member of Wiper party.        

Similarly, Deputy President William Ruto, former Vice-President Musalia Mudavadi, Narc-Kenya leader Martha Karua and Ford-Kenya leader Moses Wetang’ula have served in Parliament, courtesy of three different political parties. 

Mr Murungi, the king of them all, first represented the people of Meru South on a Ford-Kenya ticket.

Then he was part of a team of youthful lawyers and pro-multiparty crusaders, dubbed the Young Turks.

As national politics degenerated from ideological to tribal focus, Mr Murungi jumped ship to Mr Kibaki’s Democratic Party in 1997 only to bounce back with NARC in 2002, when Kibaki embraced the more “nationalistic” outfit that swept Kanu from its 40-year hold on power.  

He again approached the 2007 polls in a new PNU kit, choosing to ride to the Senate in 2013 in the famed “bus” of Alliance Party of Kenya.

And going by developments of on Saturday, next year the senator, who has declared interest in the Meru Governor’s seat, will be kitted in Jubilee’s colours.