Karen Nyamu: A Woman, A Lover, A Leader, A Provocateur

In 2017, a hitherto unknown city goddess emerged onto the political scene, running for the seat of the Nairobi Woman Representative, using her strawberry words, burnished complexion, sculpted figure and bouncy personality to mesmerize Nairobians eager for a fresh political iconoclast.

She used the tantalizing tagline "Bae wa Nairobi" to endear herself to Nairobians, flaunting her flowery legal background and obvious connections to high offices to ruffle a few feathers, make political inroads and hold sway over the city electorate.

"Bae wa Nairobi" seemed to work, as she quickly became one of the most-talked about Nairobi aspirants. Her then-competitors lacked the social efficaciousness her mere presence exuded, as she straddled the slums, throwing herself into the political mud, unafraid of elbowing her way to the top of the election food chain.

Karen Nyamu is her name, and, throughout the election season, she engaged in numerous political high jinks, hitting the headlines almost every week, hogging the tabloids and amusing internet layabouts.

At one press conference, Karen, now a nominated Senator, infamously paused the press proceedings as she reached into her bag to powder her nose and fix her makeup as news cameras were still rolling.

There was a new entrant in the female political realm and she wasn't afraid of acting differently, eschewing the seriousness and traditional gravitas of some of Kenya's renowned female politicians.

Her colorful run for office was, however, overshadowed by various innocuous public stunts which may have made Nairobians trivialize "Bae wa Nairobi's" quest for serving the public.

After ignominiously losing the ticket, Karen Nyamu still remained a fixture in the minds of Kenyans - she loved to hog the attention, keep her social media followers entertained and throw herself into the heart of the hottest city topics.

In 2019, Ms. Nyamu, who was now a director at Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company, would be notoriously pictured publicly smoking a marijuana joint, flanked by youthful men, at Umeme Grounds in Ziwani during the finals of the annual Koth Biro football tournament.

When called out for that not-particularly shocking "puff puff" session, Karen cavalierly responded, "Why don't you also say that I sponsored cash awards in the individual category in the same tournament?".

The smoke (pun not intended) was so much such that the Nairobi county Assembly Culture and Community Services Committee contemplated summoning the maverick politician.

“Mr Speaker, how can a senior county officer like Nyamu engage in open abuse or use the marijuana for instance during Koth Biro football tournament yet she is a member of the Nairobi County Water and Sewerage Board," the-then Minority Chief Whip Peter Imwatok submitted.

Fast forward to January 2020, when, during the reshuffle of his government, then-Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko announced that Karen would take over the Agriculture docket. The move elicited sharp reactions from social media but the comely-figured politician seemed to have won again, remaining firmly a part of city governance, her past machinations notwithstanding.

But it is during her sordid entanglements with popular Mugithi icon Samidoh Muchoki when Karen Nyamu became an indelible portrait in the annals of the Kenyan gossip rags.

Samidoh, a hugely-popular married man, was shockingly outed as the father of Karen Nyamu's son, a hot secret that the twosome had futilely attempted to conceal from the public.

The cat had been inevitably let out of the bag and Karen Nyamu, the savvy media darling, was now officially known as Nairobi's highest-profile paramour.

Soon, the normally-docile Samidoh's private life sloppily spilled across the internet's courtyard, with fans taking turns to commentate on the city's latest - and tawdriest - soap opera.

Sensational details of the Samidoh love triangle continued to litter even the tiniest creeks of the internet. Karen clearly relished furthering the conundrum. 

Ms. Nyamu, ever the indefatigable tigress, fought on, fought for her right to be loved, to be recognised and to be accorded respect as the mother of Samidoh's child.

Before anyone even realized it, another baby was in the offing, this time, a girl.

Everyone was gobsmacked that, even after delivering a mawkish apology to his wife Eddah Nderitu after the discovery of his affair with Ms. Nyamu, Samidoh would still keep the embers burning and produce yet another baby.

The disjointed tune's crescendo reached when Karen dramatically accosted both Samidoh and his wife Eddah at a public Mugithi concert in, of all places, Dubai.

Orders were given, security moved in, Karen would be tossed out, ceremony was thrown into disarray, tempers flared and, eventually, an emotionless apology from Karen who now declared her separation from the man whose charming spell she seemed to be helplessly under.

Like a soccer match, the game seems to have gone to half time and Kenyans cannot wait for the players to emerge from their locker rooms just to see who will score the first hat-trick. And at what minute.

Only one person can win the golden boot. And it's anyone's guess who the leading contender is.