Of ‘smairo ni tiki’ and other catchy phrases Mt Kenya politicians are using

In every electioneering year, politicians craft catchy phrases and names to woo the electorate to vote them in.

They are simple and easy to remember, attractive to the voters and help them in identifying their candidates of  choice.

A majority of the leaders have tweaked their names to chic nicknames that resonate with their role in the community before elections while others are using their appearances to garner votes.

For example, in Mt Kenya region, several leaders are not using their real names while campaigning, rather the names christened to them by their supporters or otherwise.

The Nyeri Town Mp Ngunjiri Wambugu has been christened Kameko in reference to his short stature. It also refers to the 6kg gas cylinder.

It all began when a section of Nyeri residents were disgruntled about his style of leadership that was always associated with stage managed hooliganism and violence.

This was at the height of the Kieleweke and Tangatanga political rivalry some years back. It was meant as an insult.

But the legislator has since embraced it and is seeking reelection with the catch phrase #KabaKameko. The usage of "Kaba" in the Gikuyu language means one is better when presented with countless options.

In Kieni constituency, Mr Njoroge Wainana who is seeking to oust two time MP Kanini Kega is popularly known as Chieni as his supermarket located within Nyeri Town or Wa  Mutu owing to the fact that he distributes maize flour to residents in the constituency. 

Having been a primary school teacher and rising through the ranks to become deputy governor to the late Wahome Gakuru and then Governor, Mutahi Kahiga is riding on his professional background to seek reelection in the August 9 polls.

He fondly runs his campaign under the tag line #KabaMwalimu.

His competitor Mr Thuo Mathenge who is seeking the post for the second time is better known as Wanguku.

This is borrowed from the fact that he rears and sells chicken at his Bradegate farm and hotel within the county.

He boasts of hiring thousands of youth from Nyeri and thus best poised to run the county and tackling unemployment which has been the bane of development in Nyeri.

Mr Thuo runs his campaign with the tag line #NoWanguku to mean, there is no best candidate for governor other than him.

His counterpart Ephraim Maina, also seeking the governorship seat is best known as Engineer owing to the fact that he owns a building and construction company.

He however is running his campaign with the tag line #KabaMaina.

For the Senatorial seat, Mr Wahome Mwangi is a former Mathira CDF chairman but he is better known as Wamatinga borrowed from tractors.

He is an Engineer who owns a number of tractors and a construction company that has undertaken a number of projects within the county.

The Nyeri Woman Rep Rahab Mukami is best known as Mukami Mashinani. In Gikuyu language, Mukami means milking or someone who milks.

While seeking reelection, she tells the electorate to vote for her for the second time so that she "can go ahead and milk resources from the national government that will cascade down to the common mwananchi for development purposes."

In Kirinyaga County, the battle for the governor seat is pitting the current county chief Anne Waiguru against her sworn rival Wangui Ngirici who is running as an Independent candidate.

Billboards across the county bearing Ngirici’s name are accompanied by a cropped image of her smile which she is using as her symbol.

Her tag line is #SmaironiTiki loosely translated to mean her smile is perfect while her counterpart Waiguru is still riding on the 2017 #Minjiminji wave to mean she is fresh like snow peas and also beautiful.

She used the same tag while she was competing against Narc-Kenya party leader Martha Karua.