Former CS Kiunjuri set to reclaim Laikipia East MP seat
The Service Party (TSP) leader Mwangi Kiunjuri speaking to the media at Nanyuki Primary School polling station in Laikipia East Constituency on August 9, 2022 before casting his vote. Mr Kiunjuri said low voter turnout in the county has been attributed by high cost of living facing Kenyans.
The Service Party leader Mwangi Kiunjuri could find his way back to Parliament, with provisional results indicating he is taking an early lead in the Laikipia East parliamentary race.
The results show that Mr Kiunjuri has garnered 30,199 votes against incumbent MP Amin Deddy's 28,070.
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) returning officer Tabitha Gathoni is expected to make an official announcement at 1pm at the Thingithu Secondary School tallying centre.
Both frontrunners in the race are from the Kenya Kwanza coalition that is headed by Deputy President William Ruto.
Mr Kiunjuri is a principal in Kenya Kwanza.
The former Agriculture Cabinet Secretary and Mr Deddy put up spirited campaigns, with each camp flexing political muscles to outshine the other.
Mr Kiunjuri served as Laikipia East MP between 1997 and 2012.
In 2012, Mr Kiunjuri, who was Public Works assistant minister at the time, formed the Grand National Union (GNU) party and became its leader, with the late Nderitu Gachagua as its secretary-general.
GNU, like The National Alliance Party (TNA), Party of National Unity (PNU) and Alliance Party of Kenya (APK), helped Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, then a deputy prime minister, to clinch the presidency in the 2013 General Election.
In 2016, GNU merged with several other parties to form Jubilee so as to support President Kenyatta’s re-election bid in the 2017 polls.
In the run-up to those elections, Mr Kiunjuri was eying the Laikipia governor’s seat, but he shelved his ambitions on the advice of Mr Kenyatta to support the re-election bid of the Laikipia governor at the time, Joshua Irungu.
On February 16, 2020, Mr Kiunjuri accused Mr Kenyatta of kicking him out of the Cabinet though he had supported the President’s Jubilee Party in the 2017 elections.
Mr Kiunjuri also claimed the President had short-changed him after he agreed to fold his GNU party to support Mr Kenyatta’s re-election bid.
After he was sacked, Mr Kiunjuri focused on popularising his party – The Service Party (TSP) – with an eye on the General Election.
He was seen as a potential running mate for DP Ruto.
But because that was not forthcoming, he embarked on a spirited campaign to reclaim the parliamentary seat he previously held for 15 years.
