By Anderson Ojwang’
Governor Kawira Mwangaza is rewriting her story. From a pariah and jilted governor to the iron lady of Mt Kenya politics.
When most had written her off politically and thought that her impeachment would dim her light, Kawira is now back in the limelight and charting a new political dispensation not only in Mt Kenya East but nationally.
Kawira single-handedly delivered an unforgettable Linda Mwananchi Team tour in Meru and placed herself at the centre of the political conversation from Meru to the national stage.
The former Governor organised and hosted an epic show, proving that she remains the focal political pillar in the region and not a pushover in the male-dominated terrain.
The successful rally further lent credence to the fact that Mwangaza (light), which shone and dimmed the light of male dominance in Meru County politics, is back with a bang. The stone that the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) rejected at the altar of impeachment has come back to haunt. When the hunter becomes the hunted.
She captured it in her social media post: “When Meru is happy Mama is happy, when Mama is happy Meru is happy.
Leadership is not about titles; it is about courage, resilience, and standing firm for what you believe is right,”
Kawira did not hide her happiness after hosting the Linda Mwananchi team of Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna and Embakasi East MP Babu Owino and went ahead to thank the people of Meru County.
“Good morning my precious people. Aki am so happy. Yaani si mumenifanyia poa. Wah! Asanteni sana watu wangu wa Meru. Organic love. Kwa mioyo ndani!” she wrote.
Babu recognised Kawira’s contribution and confirmed her role in the united opposition table of negotiation.
“We want to take Sifuna forward to State House. He is our brother. In the opposition.
I want us to unite. Here in Mt Kenya we take our comrade Kawira Mwangaza, we bring in Rigathi Gachagua, Stephen Kalonzo, Fred Matiang’i, Orengo and Babu so that we become one thing,” he said.
Grassroots mobiliser
The successful Linda Mwananchi rally in Meru exposed and brought out Kawira’s strength, a grassroots mobiliser par excellence.
She understands the basic ingredient that a majority of politicians ignore, that grassroots mobilisation is about courage, presence and connecting with ordinary people.
She showed up, stood with the people and brought an energy admired by her opponents and allies alike. She stepped into the arena as a bold woman, just like Ngilu and Karua during their heyday.
History maker
Kawira was the first woman Governor from Meru County, and, elected as an independent candidate, she braved the wave of UDA and other political parties and bigwigs to ride into victory.
She made history as the first woman Governor to survive and later fall to the hammer of impeachment.
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 hosted the new kids on the block, Linda Mwananchi, in a successful rally and her profile skyrocketed.
Kawira recently wrote on her social media platforms: “Kasongo sacrificed Meru County in favour of a Cartel of 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!”
The Grace
From the Women Representative position, Kawira, in the 2022 General Election, defeated 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 186,359 votes and was subsequently appointed the Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture. He was later sacked over the fertiliser scandal in the ministry.
Kawira 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, survived impeachment several times before she was guillotined.
During the campaigns, Kiraitu perceived Kawira as a non-starter who had no agenda and 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 on his own home turf, where she garnered 31,921 votes against Murungi’s 22,359 votes.
In the gubernatorial election, it was billed as the battle of the titans, Kiraitu against Linturi, and against all odds, Kawira was tipped to come third. She changed the tides and became the pulse of Meru politics.
Before the 2010 Constitution and the dawn of the seat of Woman Representative, Meru County had its 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 Woman Representative seat in 2017 as an independent, trouncing Ms Florence Kajuju.
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 mobilised 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 just a matter of time before she pulls another card on UDA and her political foes.
