Murang’a: Five failed MCA candidates receive aid after going broke
Five candidates who contested for Members of County Assembly seats and lost in the August 9 general election have received much needed boost from an NGO to kickstart their lives after going broke.
Ahadi Kenya, a charity organization came to the rescue of the five unsuccessful youthful aspirants who were eying to clinch MCA seat for Kanyenyaini Ward in Murang’a County.
The aspirants said they spent all their savings leaving them without a coin. Ahadi Kenya Trust organization has supported the five candidates to start a chicken and dairy cow rearing project.
Some of the failed candidates said they are indebted to the tune of hundreds of thousands with others appealing to voters for financial support noting that their financial situation is critical.
The candidates, Geoffrey Gakiria, Anthony Maina wa Bilha, Florence Nyambura, George Kinyanjui, Shem Gichimu, and James Kamau recounted how they rub out of resources and depend on support from friends and relatives.
One of the beneficiaries, George Kinyanjui, 27 years, appreciated the support from Ahadi Kenya saying he spent more than Sh. 500, 000 in the campaigns.
The guests were touched by the plight of Kinyanjui who was a high school teacher and narrated the suffering he had to endure after his house was torched and properties destroyed.
The biology and chemistry teacher continued to campaign even after his house was reduced to ashes. “The worst happened while I was in political contests and as I prepared for a wedding. I am happy despite the suffering that I went through,” he said.
He lauded the chicken he got saying within a period of four months he hopes to start making money from the venture.
Another beneficiary, Anthony Maina observed that it was his first time to vie for an elective position saying he depleted all his savings and now he has embarked on a search for employment opportunities.
‘To be honest, life has not been easy, I resigned to vie for the seat under Chama cha Kazi and emerged number three, the electoral process was good but as a youth, we underwent a lot of challenges, the biggest one was financing as I used almost a million shillings,” he said
“Politics is not easy and is not for the faint hearted considering I had to print materials, hire vehicles for transport logistics, and public address. To console ourselves, we don’t say we failed, we just simply say our votes were not enough to clinch the seat,” he added.
The bitter reality is that of the 16,100 candidates who contested in this year’s election, 14,218 did not get seats despite their financial input in the process.
This is because there are only 1,882 elective slots available for grabs as per the Constitution –President (1), Governor (47), Senator (47), Woman Representative (47), MP (290), and Members of the County Assembly (1,450).
Data from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) showed that four candidates were cleared to run for President, 266 for governor seats, 341 for senate seats, 360 for Woman Representative, 2,132 for MP, and 12,997 for Members of the County Assembly (MCA).
According to Dr. Stanley Kamau, Ahadi Kenya CEO said campaigns are expensive and at most times, leave those who participated in the elections financially depleted.
Speaking while handing over the support, he noted that the dairy and chicken will support the aspirants to start generating income saying the beneficiaries are young people who initially relied on menial jobs to earn a living noting that others had even resigned from employment.
“The programme has started here in Kanyenyaini ward and will be visiting other wards within Murang’a and give support to some of the aspirants who failed.” Said Kamau at the Ichichi area.
The director, who was accompanied by the area elected MCA Grace Nduta further added that some of the aspirants who failed in the elections were psychologically affected and also needs support to accept the reality and move on with their daily activities.
Last month, the Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu announced that psychosocial support will be available to politicians who contested in this General Election.
Ms Nderitu said that the services of professional counselors are critical in preventing election losers and winners from grasping the reality of life.
While losers endure the heavy burden of coming to terms with the reality of an expensive election campaign, she says, winners have many friends and many people willing to celebrate.
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