Wafula Chebukati-led Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission weeded out many players who were salivating for the country’s top seat. The electoral body developed serious credibility issues as it settled on four men and their running mates; three women and one man ahead of the August 9 polls.
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As expected, some of those weeded out, like Mwangi wa Iria of Usawa Party, cried foul and made IEBC appeared as if it was unsure of what it was doing.
- Ruth Mucheru Mutua
Mutua is the running mate to David Mwaure Waihiga of Agano Party. She is a communication expert “passionate about fighting corruption”. Among the notable companies she has worked for include Ruchaga Investment, Sadolin Paints, Telkom Kenya, and Rotor Scientific (EA) limited.
She schooled at State House Primary School, Visa Oshwal Girls High School, Kenya Institute of Business Training, and the University of Nairobi.
- Justina Wambui Wamae
Wamae is a 35-year-old business lady turned politician who is the running mate of George Wajackoyah of the Roots Party.
She was selected as the running mate after applying for the position using the CV she used in applying for the Principal Secretary position after the elections in 2017. Wamae was born and raised in the Kibera slum and is the firstborn in a family of two siblings.
The 2007 post-election violence forced the family to move out of Kibera and settle at Syokimau. She is married to Alex Kanyi, whom she met in 2017 during the campaigns. They are blessed with a three-year-old daughter.
Wamae started school at Kilimani Primary School. She then proceeded to Limuru Girls High School for secondary education between 2002 and 2005. She then joined Daystar University, graduating in 2010 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Management Information Systems.
In 2012 she graduated with a Diploma in Purchasing and Supply Chain Management from the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supplies UK In 2014 she graduated with a Master’s Degree in Purchasing and Logistics from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT)
She unsuccessfully contested for the Mavoko parliamentary seat on an independent ticket after failing to clinch the Jubilee nominations. She is the managing director of Finpro Association Limited, an organisation critical in empowering youth-owned businesses.
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- Geoffrey Rigathi Gachagua
Gachagua was born in 1965 in Hiriga village of Mathira constituency, Nyeri county, being the eighth born child to Nashashon Gachagua Reriani and Martha Kirigo. His parents were Mau Mau freedom fighters in Mt.Kenya forest where Nashashon Gachagua Reriani was building and servicing guns for the fighters.
The Kenya Kwanza running mate enrolled at Kabiruini Primary School from 1971 to 1977 before proceeding to Kianyaga High School for his O-levels and A-levels. In 1985, he joined the University of Nairobi, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science and Literature in 1988.
Rigathi had Paramilitary training at Administration Police Institute in 1990. He also studied Advanced Public Administration Course at the Kenya School of Government between 1999 and 2000.
At the University of Nairobi, Gachagua was the Nyeri District University Students Association leader as well as the chairman of The Association of Literature Students. He is married to Dorcas Wanjiku Rigathi, who is a pastor based in Mathira.
After graduating, Gachagua was employed for a short time at Kenya’s Ministry of Home Affairs and National Heritage before he joined Administration Police Institute in 1990. After graduating from the Administration Police Institute, Gachagua was posted at the Office of the then president Daniel Arap Moi, as a District Officer Cadet between 1991 and 1992. Gachagua then went on to serve as a District Officer in Kakamega,Ng’arua and Laikipia districts.
Between 1999 and 2000, he joined the Kenya School of Government, where he graduated with a Diploma in Advanced Public Administration.
Gachagua was elected as a Kenyan member of parliament for Mathira constituency in 2017 on a Jubilee ticket. In that race, he had edged out a bitter rival Phyllis Wambura Maranga who had claimed she had been rigged out of the Jubilee Party primaries.
Rigathi is facing a graft case, and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has applied to freeze some of his bank accounts.
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- Martha Wangari Karua
Karua (born 22 September 1957) is a Kenyan who was a long-standing member of parliament for Gichugu Constituency and is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. The Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party running mate was Minister for Justice until resigning from that position in April 2009.
Karua ran for the presidency in 2013 under the Narc-Kenya ticket, making her the third woman to run for the highest office after Charity Ngilu and Wangari Maathai in the 1997 elections. She emerged sixth in the race.
She is the daughter of Jackson Karua and his wife Josephine Wanjiru. She was brought up in the village of Kimunye as the second child in a family of eight, four girls and four boys. She attended Mugumo primary school, Kabare Girls Boarding School, St Michael’s boarding school Keruguya.
She then proceeded to Kiburia Girls Secondary School, Ngiriambu Girl’s secondary school, and Karoti Girl’s secondary schools, where she passed her East African School Certificate at Karoti Girls High School in Kirinyaga county. She then attended Nairobi Girl’s secondary school for A levels.
She studied law at the University of Nairobi from 1977 to 1980. Between 1980 and 1981 she was enrolled at the Kenya School of Law for the statutory postgraduate law course. After graduating, from 1981 to 1987 Karua worked as a magistrate in various courts, including those at Makadara, Nakuru and Kibera, receiving credit for careful discernment.
In 1987, she left to start her own law firm, Martha Karua & Co. Advocates, which she ran until 2002. Cases included the treason trial of Koigi Wamwere and that of the Kenyan Member of Parliament Mirugi Kariuki.
At the risk of being blacklisted by the Moi government, she defended several human rights activists. Karua was a member of the opposition political movements that successfully agitated for the re-introduction of multi-party democracy in Kenya in the early 1990s. Karua joined Kenneth Matiba’s Ford-Asili party.
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She walked out of the party leadership elections, which she regarded as compromised, in September 1992, leaving her sole opponent Geoffrey Karekia Kariithi to be declared the winner.
She joined the Democratic Party of Kenya (DP), where she won the party nominations/ticket in November 1992 and proceeded to win the election as Gichugu MP in December 1992 against the incumbent Geoffrey Karekia Kariithi freeing Gichugu constituents from the Kareithi – Nahashon Njuno rivalry.
Until April 6, 2009, she was the Minister of Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs. She also previously served as the Minister of Water Resources Management and Development and was behind the implementation of the Water Act 2002, which has since then accelerated the pace of water reforms and service provision in Kenya.
Karua remained Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister in the Cabinet appointed by late former president Mwai Kibaki on January 8, 2008, following the controversial December 2007 election. Karua resigned as Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs on 6 April 2009, citing frustrations in discharging her duties.
A clear example of her frustrations was when Kibaki appointed judges without her knowledge a few days before her resignation. She was the first minister to resign voluntarily since 2003.
