Will Waiguru evade missiles being hurled at her?

Former Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru, the Jubilee Party's gubernatorial candidate for Kirinyaga, at the political group's headquarters in Nairobi on May 1, 2017. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Even as she walks a rocky political path as she aspires to become the governor of Kirinyaga, the missiles being thrown her way on account of her integrity appear to be getting more frequent and heavier.

  • On Wednesday, two landed smack on her face.

One way an artist can illustrate the current situation of former Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru is by drawing someone being pelted with stones from various directions as she walks on a corridor and still manages to trudge on despite the many brickbats, sometimes picking some and hurling them back at her tormentors.

Even as she walks a rocky political road as she aspires to become the governor of Kirinyaga, the missiles being thrown her way on account of her integrity appear to be getting more frequent and heavier.

On Wednesday, two landed smack on her face.

One was hurled by the Kenya Integrity Alliance, a conglomerate of civil society organisations, which said she is among the 20 who should not be allowed to contest in the August 8 General Election because of the many questions that abound regarding the loss of up to Sh1.6 billion at the National Youth Service when she was Devolution minister.

Shortly after, lawmakers threw a Molotov cocktail-type missile at her when they adopted a report by the Public Accounts Committee, which had recommended that she be barred from holding public office if she is found culpable after investigations and a lifestyle audit.

And recently, Nasa presidential nominee Raila Odinga filed an affidavit in court where he said she has refused to answer or provided insufficient responses to his questions regarding her lifestyle.

In her characteristic manner of not letting allegations be made against her without hitting back, Ms Waiguru had in 2015 sued Mr Odinga, accusing him of defaming her and asking the court to compel him to give a public apology for linking her with the NYS spillage. That was two months before she resigned.

As the scandal of the lost funds raged, a spirited Ms Waiguru could not take any allegations lying down and she would often respond to allegations made, measure for measure. After resigning from the Devolution and Planning Cabinet position in November 2015, she joined politics and initially signalled at vying for Nairobi’s top seat before shifting to her backyard in Kirinyaga County.

After campaigning for one year in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s party, she managed to secure the Jubilee Party’s coveted ticket with a landslide win.
She garnered 100,632 votes while her opponents Joseph Gitari and incumbent Joseph Ndathi had 46,678 and 17,085 votes respectively.

Her current political headache is on how to beat seasoned former Gichugu MP Martha Karua who is vying for the gubernatorial seat and is taking advantage of Ms Waiguru’s scandals to display her unsuitability to head the county.

TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL

The mother-of-three started her career as an intern at Transparency International, an NGO known for spearheading the fight against corruption, before joining the Kenya Leadership Institute.

And she has since learnt that there are no permanent enemies in politics, if her recent visit to Deputy President William Ruto’s Karen residence is anything to go by. Just last year, Mr Ruto threw yet another salvo at her, saying she should take responsibility for the loss at NYS.

She would later fire back by telling the Nation that a close ally of Mr Ruto’s was one of the architects of the NYS malfeasance.

The outcome of the MPs’ recommendation on Wednesday will definitely leave a mark in the curriculum vitae of Ms Waiguru, an economist who had an illustrious career both in government and non-governmental organisations before President Kenyatta appointed her to the Cabinet in 2013.

Now with the stench of corruption allegations refusing to go away, it remains to be seen if she can weather the latest storm on her way to Kirinyaga’s top seat.