The day Kibaki wives fought over inheriting his parliamentary seat
At one point in the run up to the 2013 general elections that would see Mwai Kibaki exit the presidency, it was revealed that the President’s second wife Mary Wambui had been denied the TNA nomination certificate because an appeal lodged by her closest rival was being looked into.
But actually behind the scenes was a vicious battle of wits between two women who did not like each other; the two wives of the president.
The appeal claimed that Wambui had bribed voters through her driver and even forged a letter of resignation from TNA purportedly written by her rival Gichuki Mugambi.
To those who know Wambui’s saga well it was amusing to realize that she was now using the name Munene which actually started as a nickname early in the Kibaki presidency when people started calling her Wambui wa Munene. (Meaning Wambui who belongs to the big boss).
Wambui then was probably the most feared woman in Kenya despite her appearing pretty meek on TV and even invoking the name of God and saying that she was going to pray about the whole issue. She met the press flanked by her infamous daughter Wangui who is reported to have gotten married to one of the infamous Artur brothers.
Interestingly at the time Wambui continued to enjoy state security although the president had publicly denied that he had any relationship with her in an address to the nation.
Clearly the first family was behind Wambui’s serious political woes then to be the heir of President Kibaki’s parliamentary seat of Othaya.
Impeccable sources had informed this blogger at the time that the initial plan was for Wambui to go for a senatorial seat while Jimmy Kibaki (the president’s son by his first wife) would go for his father’s parliamentary seat. Those close to the first family were relieved because it appeared that an embarrassing political mud fight between the two wives and their children had been averted. However Wambui’s plan hit a snag when talk started doing the rounds about a Senatorial candidate being required to hold a university degree. She opted to play it safe and go for the parliamentary seat instead. Wambui did not go past class 7 and was brought up in an extremely poverty stricken environment.
It is worth noting that Wambui has been the chief campaigner for the president for years and was instrumental in intervening when former president Moi attempted to rig Kibaki out of his Othaya parliamentary seat in the infamous 1988 mlolongo (lining up) general elections. She quickly mobilized supporters who came out ready for trouble (complete with pangas) and frantic phone calls had to be made by the DC (the returning officer in those elections) to Nairobi after which the already announced results which indicated that Kibaki had been defeated were reversed and the future president made it back to parliament by a whisker.
It is no secret that the president’s other family were behind concerted efforts to ensure that she did not inherit the Othaya seat. Indeed frantic phone calls were being made all over the place which reminded me of the saying that when two elephants are fighting it is the grass that bear the brunt of the battle. At one point tensions were very high in Othaya constituency.
In the announced results Wambui beat her bitter rival Gichuki Mugambi by 13,050 votes to 10,080
How did this story end? Wambui wa Munene was finally granted her TNA nomination certificate and went on to win those elections and thus inherited her husbands' parliamentary seat.
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