Kenya's top 4 biggest political losers of 2019

1 Ferdinand Waititu

The Kiambu Governor is arguably the biggest political loser in 2018.

Baba Yao, as he is popularly known, became the first Governor to be blocked from exercising his constitutional powers after he was charged with corruption-related offences.

Waititu was accused of using his powers as Governor to give tenders to a company which later paid millions to a company controlled by his wife and daughter.

The investigation saw his daughter Njeri Ndung’u and wife Susan Ndung’u arrested.

Susan was eventually charge alongside her husband and other officials.

Apart from Waititu losing his office, the Governor has had a number of embarrassing public incidents after being locked out of Presidential public functions.

Residents have also began collecting signatures to petition his conclusive removal from office while his CECs allied to him have been either suspended, impeached, transferred or mistreated by allies of Deputy Governor James Nyoro.

2 Rashid Echesa

2019 began with Rashid Echesa as Sports Cabinet Secretary but his reign was to last only a few days.

Echesa’s reign, however, was short-lived as he was sacked by President Uhuru Kenyatta after engaging in a war of words with ODM Leader Raila Odinga.

With a modest education (dropped out of class seven), Echesa’s exit from government relegated him to the political cold.

He was later to be arrested in connection with gang killings in Kakamega and has been interrogated by the DCI over allegations of an international gold scam.

3 Henry Rotich

The Treasury CS Henry Rotich had a bright career over the past six years while he controlled the country’s purse.

However, 2019 was the year when his political star was dimmed following an embarrassing arrest at the National Treasury in connection with the infamous Arror and Kimwarer dams’ scandal.

Rotich has since been replaced at the Treasury after Ukur Yattani assumed the position.

However, the troubles facing the former CS have since been complicated as he has been particularly targeted as the person to blame for the country’s growing debt burden over the past six years.

While a comeback is possible, the man from Kimwarer will forever remember 2019 as a bad year for him.

4 William Ruto

The Deputy President’s year has been rough, starting out with Executive Order one of 2019 which elevated Matiang’i to the level of Super Cabinet Secretary directly answerable to President Kenyatta.

Ruto’s troubles escalated quickly as the Ministry of Interior has on a number of occasions withdrew security officials from the DP’s visits to various countries.

Many of the projects Ruto has launched in 2019 were done without the presence of the relevant government officials who manage or oversee the projects on the ground.

The humiliation culminated in a reported face off where the DP accosted his junior, Interior PS Karanja Kibicho at the airport.

Ruto was to later report Kibicho to the DCI for allegedly plotting his murder alongside several other officials including Cabinet Secretaries who are junior to the Deputy President.

To cap it all, the DP had a hopeful campaign to snatch Kibra from Raila’s ODM - an unsuccessful mission that ended with Ruto’s candidate getting half the votes received by the ODM candidate Imran Okoth.