Former State House Chief of Staff Nzioka Waita speaks on his political journey

Former State House Chief of Staff Nzioka Waita has recalled his ebb and flow from being a corporate hotshot to dipping his feet in the political world, and eventually running for the Machakos Governor’s seat in the 2022 General Elections.

Speaking on the ‘Engage’ podium, Waita ran down memory lane highlighting the dark side of politics, while at the same time sharing the hard-learned lessons.

From being referred to as a foreigner in his home town to being nicknamed former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s project, Waita narrated how he was politically bullied to the extent of suffering physical attacks during public rallies in his pursuit to succeed ex-Governor Alfred Mutua.

He said the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party had insiders who, from the time he announced his candidacy on February 2022, had been plotting his downfall and often favoured his competitor - current Governor Wavinya Ndeti.

“From the 8th of February till the night of the eighth of August 2022, I visited 40 wards, roughly 480 meetings, and would do an average of 6 meetings in a day, met women, teachers, doctors, magicians...but was eventually humbled,” he narrated.

Some of the things that were said about him, he recalled, included; “Huyu haongei Kikamba, born in Nairobi, what is he doing here? Look at his ears, height, and spending time with cows, he is a Maasai. He has no wife or children. He has come from Nairobi, he is Uhuru Kenyatta’s project…and he is like Alfred because he has a wife from Murang’a.”

The Chama Cha Uzalendo (CCU) party leader said he resolved to buy the little-known political outfit to secure his place in the race, and in order to avoid participating in Azimio nominations.

This, he said, was due to the popularity of CCU at the time, which his rival Wavinya had used in the previous election.

Waita laments that in spite of his efforts to join Azimio, a decision he now seemingly regrets, Wavinya remained the coalition’s favourite candidate, and leaders would occasionally implore him to bow out of the race.

“I joined the coalition, maybe I should have thought a little harder, but I joined it because beliefs are constant and it is the coalition where we were," he said.

“I remember how once I was told Raila would come to Machakos and endorse my competitor. I asked, Good gracious! After all these meetings, begging people for money to support my campaigns, these guys are going to destroy me in one day? I said No and prayed.”

Waita disclosed that on the same occasion held at Machakos, where about 3,000 pastors were in attendance, every one of them prayed against his candidacy and even hurled objects at him.

“They didn’t want Raila to witness their plot. My bodyguard told me, 'boss ni kubaya' as he held my hand. We were going towards the podium and they started throwing things at me, it was a meeting of pastors, 3,000 pastors...they started throwing stones and said I was not invited,” he explained.

“They brought goons and out of the 3,000 pastors, I had men of God of my own, none of those chairs hit me and the local chief insisted that I don’t leave the place.”

He added: “There were different types of pastors and when they started praying, each guy would pray for my competitor and the downfall of all her enemies."

Waita, who admits to having initially despised politics, said the former president had even advised him against joining the murky race, adding that the journey proved tough as he battled through dealing with public rejection.

“I hate politics to the bone, but I decided I wanted to be the man in the arena. Uhuru laughed when I told him I want to join politics," he said.

"I would go home and would be in many WhatsApp groups where I could see very personal insults, photos of my family members, questioning if my children were mine. I am not very easy to intimidate but my spirit was so low. My family would try to talk to me, and I tried to recharge but I couldn’t recharge every time I looked at the messages."

He however remains confident that he made the right choice by joining the gubernatorial race amidst the challenges even as he hints at election malpractices.

The former Safaricom honcho reiterates that he is also proud that he made the difficult decision to concede defeat and acknowledge his competitor as the duly elected Governor as he urged citizens to always try and pursue their goals.

“After the elections, I learnt that now, Nzioka you are very naïve; don’t spend so much time campaigning to understand how votes are counted,” he noted.

“I got 130,000 votes, six times the capacity of Nyayo Stadium, from every corner of Machakos; people who said I don’t speak Kikamba, had big ears or didn’t care if I was born and bred in Nairobi, what they saw is the substance that I had in my head, they listened and could see a future; I feel bad that I let them down, but I don’t feel bad that I tried - Just try!”