How Murega Baicu’s guitar struck tunes of discord in Meru county
Mr Murega Baicu, husband to Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza plays a guitar during her swearing in ceremony on August 25, 2022. Mr Murega is a musician who used music to draw crowds to their campaigns.
When the political bug bit Kawira Mwangaza at the age of 34, driving her to contest the Buuri parliamentary seat in 2013, she had schemed to use the power of the guitar to win.
She had silently recruited Mr Robert Murega Rimberia as her entertainment manager in the campaigns, but she did not make it despite confessing that she used Sh20 million to campaign.
The entertainment manager was to gain a name using his stage name Murega Baicu and, after the failure, they went together to her private home to nurse their political wounds.
Ms Mwangaza has since confessed that she was hurt so much by the failed parliamentary bid and was financially unsettled to the point she became an onion and tomato seller in Nairobi’s Ruai estate.
But, come 2017, Ms Mwangaza and Mr Baicu made a comeback singing for yet another political cause. Ms Mwangaza, now 38, was contesting the Meru woman rep seat. The odds were against her as President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto were backing her rival, Ms Florence Kajuju. Ms Mwangaza, powered by the guitar-playing Baicu, won as an independent candidate.
Mellowed hearts
Armed with only a guitar, Panama hats, flamboyance and a good voice, Baicu traversed the county and mellowed hearts in their thousands and when the win was delivered, he publicly declared that “this is only the start of the bigger stage...see you in 2022”. Ms Mwangaza celebrated her 2017 win by walking down the aisle with Mr Baicu in May 2018 at a colourful wedding.
The 2022 election came and Ms Mwangaza declared interest in the gubernatorial seat, an uphill task since her major opponent was the incumbent, Mr Kiraitu Murungi. To endear herself to the people, Mwangaza has been building houses for the poor, donating dairy cows, and giving school uniforms, desks, blankets and gumboots, besides offering scholarships.
At the height of the campaigns, her rivals painted Meru town with posters and huge billboards but she only had herself, Mr Baicu and his guitar. When the vote was called, Ms Mwangaza surprised all by garnering 209,148 votes, beating her closest rival, Mr Mithika Linturi, who received 183,859 votes. Mr Murungi came third with 110,814 votes.
The guitar had done it again, but it was to become her poisoned chalice. The county assembly started to look askance at Mr Baicu, questioning the wisdom of letting him stick too much by the governor’s side.
Youth patron
But Mr Baicu became emboldened by the governor’s support when she named him the Meru Youth Service (MYS) patron and Meru Hustlers Ambassador when she unveiled the executive name. The MCAs started raising eyebrows, claiming his appointment to public office went against the law. Ms Mwangaza countered that her husband would not draw a salary. Emboldened, Mr Baicu would use his music to castigate Ms Mwangaza’s opponents in the assembly. Infuriated, the MCAs made good on their threats to remove her from office.
At the Senate, Mr Baicu’s music and utterances became a big issue and several of his videos were played to drive the points home against the governor.
The county assembly lawyer Muthomi Thionkolu got a tongue lashing from the Senate’s special committee hearing the impeachment case for referring to Mr Baicu as “that husband of yours”.
"First gentleman"
Committee Chairman Bonny Khalwale sternly cautioned Mr Thionkolu to always refer to Mr Baicu as “the first gentleman”.
Mr Baicu's prominence roles in Meru's public political scene were a big issue in the sitting to the point Dr Khalwale asked Ms Mwangaza whether she was ready to have him take a back seat and set the county free from his tiffs with elected leaders.
The flamboyance of Mr Baicu appeared to cause a stir when Nairobi’s Edwin Sifuna observed that “what the first gentleman says or does need not necessarily be attached to the governor since the two enjoy distinction in the eye of common sense and law”.
Dr Khalwale instantly observed that “Edwin is making a very important point” and asked the mover of the impeachment motion, Mr Daniel Kiogora (who listed 62 causes as drivers of his motion) that “and God forbid that your wife stole, can you be charged on her behalf?” To which Mr Kiogora responded: “Of course not.”
