Jubilee Party selects Isaac Ngugi as Victor Prengei's successor

Nominated Senator Isaac Ngugi

Isaac Ngugi, who has been selected by the Jubilee Party to take over from the late nominated Senator Victor Prengei.

Photo credit: Courtesy

The ruling Jubilee Party has settled on Mr Isaac Ngugi from Nyandarua County as the member to take over from the late nominated  Senator Victor Prengei.

Secretary-General  Raphael Tuju Thursday confirmed the nomination in a phone interview with Nation.Africa.

"We have endorsed Mr Isaac Ngugi to replace Senator Prengei. We found him the most suitable of all the individuals we were considering for the nomination," he said.

Mr Tuju said Peter Mtumishi Cheruyoit from the Ogiek community, who is the party’s Nakuru County secretary-general, was among the frontrunners to replace Prengei but is above 35 years of age.

"The party needed someone below 35 to replace Prengei, who represented the youth at the Senate. We have promoted  Mr Cheruyoit to be a director at the party headquarters.”

Mr Cheruiyot, 40, was elected Jubilee’s Nakuru branch secretary ahead of the 2017 General Election and has remained a fierce supporter of the party in the region.

Minority groups

During Prengei’s burial, several leaders urged Jubilee to consider nominating a member of the minority Ogiek community as his replacement.

Mr Tuju noted that the party is committed to including people from minority communities in leadership.

"The party takes minority groups seriously/ That is why we recently appointed Senator Sammy Leshore from the Maasai community to replace Isaac Mwaura," he said.

Mr Ngugi has an Economics and Sociology degree from the University of Nairobi. His name will now be  gazetted as he prepares to take office.

Senator Prengei died in a grisly car crash on Nakuru-Kabarak road last month.

Prengei, who made history as the community's first legislator, died aged 37.

Tough choice

Leaders and elders from the Ogiek community had been divided on the choice of Prengei’s successor.

Early in September, a section of elders fronted Mr John Samorai Lengoisa for the position.

Led by Mr John Sironga of the Ogiek Council of Elders, they asked Jubilee to nominate Mr Lengoisa, a resident of the Eastern Mau Forest in Nakuru.

Another faction of leaders from the Ogiek community endorsed Mr Cheruiyot for nomination to the Senate.