By Anderson Ojwang’
The Mwangaza (light) that shone and dimmed the light of male dominance in Meru county politics. The stone that the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) rejected at the altar of impeachment in the Senate.
In grace, Kawira Mwangaza, the first woman governor from Meru county, elected as an Independent candidate, braved the wave of UDA and other political parties and bigwigs to ride into victory.
In grace, Kawira fell to the plot and was impeached as the governor of Meru.
But the indefatigable Kawira, the stone UDA rejected, is back and is causing political havoc for a revenge moment.
From forming her political party, Umoja na Maendeleo Party, which is gaining huge traction in the region with several aspirants joining in droves, she is now back with a bang. She will be hosting the new kids on the block, Linda Mwananchi, a faction in the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), for a rally in Meru county.
Kawira recently held strategic discussions with Siaya Governor James Orengo, one of the leaders of the outfit, and planned for the rally.
“Linda Mwananchi Wanakuja Meru,” they said in a video clip.
Kawira wrote on her social media platforms: “Kasongo sacrificed Meru County in favour of a cartel of a few thieves. They are now looting Meru left, right, and centre. No roads, no bursaries, no medicine in our hospitals, no livestock vaccines. To redeem Kenya, William Ruto Must Go! Mambo ni MWECHECHE! With my friends H.E. Orengo and Senator Osotsi.”
Orengo also wrote on his social media platforms: “The Linda Mwananchi caravan is Meru bound! After a productive session with Senator Godfrey Osotsi and former Governor Kawira Mwangaza today, we are preparing to hit the ground. Date announcement coming soon. Mambo ni WANTAM!”
The Grace
From the Women Representative position, Kawira floored in the 2022 gubernatorial elections the political heavyweights of Meru politics: the incumbent, Kiraitu Murungi, who came third with 110,814 votes on the Devolution Empowerment Party, and second was Mithika Linturi, who garnered 209,148 votes and was subsequently appointed the Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture. He was later sacked over the fertilizer scandal in the ministry.
In grace, Kawira Mwangaza was declared the winner with 209,148 votes to write her story in the annals of the Meru community as the first woman governor elected. She survived impeachment several times before she was guillotined.
During the campaigns, Kiraitu perceived Kawira as a non-starter who had no agenda or ability to lead the county. In reality, she humbled and humiliated Kiraitu at the ballot, winning in six out of nine sub-counties.
The sweet and deserving humiliation for Kiraitu was in his own home turf, where she garnered 31,921 votes against Murungi’s 22,359 votes.
The gubernatorial election was billed as the battle of the titans – Kiraitu against Linturi – and against all odds, Kawira was tipped to come third. She changed the tide and became the pulse of Meru politics.
Before the 2010 constitution and the dawn of the seat of Women Representative, Meru county had the last woman elected Member of Parliament in 1975, when Ms Annrita Karimi won the South Imenti parliamentary seat.
But she lost her parliamentary seat in 1978 after she was charged in court for misuse of school funds in her previous job as principal and jailed for 18 months.
Mwangaza made her first stab at politics in 2012 when she vied for the Buuri MP seat but lost to Boniface Gatobu, and then vied for the Women Representative seat in 2017 as an independent, trouncing Ms Florence Kajuju.
In Grace
Kawira, in a reconciliatory tone and extension of an olive branch in 2023 when an impeachment motion was brought before the Senate, pleaded: “If I’ve wronged anyone in this house, in Meru and in Kenya, I pray for forgiveness.” She survived.
But the forgiveness did not come along with her plea; if anything, it fuelled the plot further. The second time, she was back in the Senate facing impeachment again.
Yet again, Kawira survived a second attempt to impeach her, after the majority of the Senators threw out seven charges levelled against her in a vote that took place past midnight after two days of intense and emotional proceedings that saw the governor break down occasionally as members defended her.
“The result of the division indicates the Senate has not upheld any of the charges. Therefore, the Senate has failed to remove from office the governor by impeachment. The governor accordingly continues to hold office,” Speaker Amason Kingi said.
In her final submission, Kawira, lamenting if given a second chance, said: “I’m here today pleading with this house, and I want to say it in Swahili: ‘mateso ni mengi lakini mungu tusaidie’ (suffering is much, but God help us).”
She blamed external forces for her woes: “As I stand here, I know that the MCAs have no issues with the governor apart from the external forces forcing them to cause a lot of confusion.”
But the dice was cast on the third attempt; she was guillotined, and from grace to grass became the moment. An attempt to seek recourse in court failed after the High Court upheld the Senate’s decision to impeach her.
The plot
Kawira became a victim of male chauvinism and subsequently was caught in a web of counter-plots against her.
Linturi recently claimed that he helped raise Ksh100 million to influence the Senate during the impeachment of former Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza.
Speaking in a night interview on a local TV station on Sunday, March 1, 2026, Linturi said he mobilized the money from friends, Members of Parliament, and other allies. He said they wanted to respond to what they believed was financial influence within Parliament.
“I called friends, my friends, MPs, all of them, and raised money: Ksh100 million,” Linturi said.
Now Governor Kawira, in the company of her musician husband, is singing into the hearts of the electorate. It is only a matter of time before she pulls another card on UDA and her political foes.
