Samuel Muchina Nyaga is running a marathon in Ol Kalou while his opponents are still negotiating with the starting line. On every dusty road and in every baraza, the UDA candidate is sprinting with the easy rhythm of a man who knows where the finish tape hangs, even as some of his co-contestants appear to be drifting backwards into the crowd, possibly in search of directions.
The stamina required to represent Ol Kalou is not a secret ingredient awaiting discovery on the eve of the D-day. It is already on display in the tarmac that has been promised and poured, the water projects nudged from blueprint to borehole, and the electrification schemes that have leapt from wish lists to transformers in villages, all because Muchina Nyaga refused to take “next financial year” for an answer.
Samuel Nyagah Muchina, the UDA candidate for Ol-Kalou byelection
Enter the hapless tag team of jesters, who have styled themselves as pacesetters for a minion whose love for frothy waters precedes him. One would think the candidate was being chaperoned towards a bar counter, not a parliamentary ballot.
The old geezer of Nyandarua politics puffs as though he has just been asked to sprint up the Aberdares with a sack of potatoes on his back. Meanwhile, the bearded comedian moves with the urgency only a tortoise can appreciate. Together, the duo is meant to pull their candidate along, yet they can barely pull their own socks up.
A proper pacesetter slices through the wind, setting a punishing tempo while daring the athletes to keep the game up. It may seem the candidate himself knows he has been attached to a pair of oxygen-starved chaperones. It is less of a campaign procession and more like a heaving match where sweat is more than progress registered.
Samuel Nyagah Muchina, the UDA candidate for Ol-Kalou byelection
Meanwhile, Muchina Nyaga is carrying the weight of tangible results on his shoulders and still accelerating. A milk cooling plant begins to rise where there was none since time immemorial. A youth digital hub received equipment after a telephone call he made to Nairobi and that was answered with action.
These are not street comedy props wheeled out for a fleeting photograph. They are outcomes that speak in the accent of improved livelihoods. That is the political fitness Ol Kalou requires. The people of Ol Kalou deserve a representative who can translate a campaign promise into a moment of ribbon-cutting without pausing to wheeze into a handkerchief.
Both Guka of Nyandarua and Kihenjo (or is it Machang’i?) of Nyandarua have demonstrated that their style of politics is 95 per cent sarakasi and little, if anything, else. But sarakasi belongs under the circus tent, not on the ballot paper.
Samuel Nyagah Muchina, the UDA candidate for Ol-Kalou byelection
The voters would do well to observe who is already on the track, lungs full of purpose, and who is still fumbling with the laces of his own vanity. Ol Kalou deserves a sprinter with the endurance of a marathoner, not repeated nursery-rhyme performances paraded for hollow entertainment from Monday to Monday.
It’s either Muchina Nyaga or Muchina Nyaga!
