Senator who’s raising political heat by going against the grain

Nominated Senator Paul Njoroge is a man under siege for stirring up political waters and |”disturbing the peace” in the in the ruling Jubilee coalition”.

His recent declaration that President Uhuru Kenyatta’s supporters may not automatically back Deputy President William Ruto in the 2022 presidential race has so deeply upset his colleagues in the coalition that State House found it worthy to respond to him.

To crown their disdain for Njoroge, a section of the party’s supporters in his Naivasha backyard even burned his effigy and declared him a persona non grata and a lost son of Maraigushu village.

But the 55-year-old Njoroge does not regret his comments and maintains that politicians in Central Kenya are dishonest about their pledge to fully back Mr Ruto in the race for the top seat in 2022.

“They are assuring Mr Ruto that he will be supported by the Central region in his bid for the presidency in 2022. They themselves are not even sure that they will be re-elected in 2017. Talk of the blind leading the blind…” he says.

The Senator says no amount of political pressure will stop him from “pointing out a political fact” “I will be the last person to hide my head in the sand about such an obvious fact,” maintains Mr Njoroge who is married to Patricia Wanjiru with whom they have three grown children.

Mr Njoroge has remained peculiar, even in private life. Two years ago in Wanjiru’s home village in Gatundu, the couple formalised their vows in a traditional ceremony where instead of cutting a cake, they cut roasted goat meat.

To witness this happy moment were Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama and his Kuria counterpart Wilfred Machage— both members of the opposition.

His seemingly close ties with the opposition also recently saw him attend Bungoma Senator and Cord co-principal Moses Wetangula’s presidential bid launch at Masinde Muliro Gardens—an event that now makes Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wa read mischief in the Senator’s comments on the Jubilee coalition.

“Njoroge’s dalliance with the opposition drives his anti-Jubilee sentiments which have been very consistent to a point we are now certain that he was never one of us, he just infiltrated us” says the MP.

The Senator however dismisses the assertions and maintains that his views are valid and based on his interactions with wananchi at the grassroots “who harbour serious reservations about the suitability of Mr Ruto as their candidate of choice in politics.”

“The desperate agitation for the Central region to retain the presidency in 2017 should not be used to engage in a free-for-all political deceit against Mr Ruto who will eventually be abandoned in 2022,” said Mr Njoroge.

This stance is what prompted State House to release a statement assuring Mr Ruto of “committed and unwavering support in 2022”.

But Mr Njoroge calls it bluff, saying: “If indeed we are true believers of the gospel, we are advised that nothing but the whole truth shall set us free.”

A man of all seasons, Mr Njoroge has never had a formal job but fortune has favoured him. He says he was born in the village, went to village schools and that in 1988 when he graduated from Moi University with a Bachelors of Commerce Degree, he harboured no ambition for formal employment, choosing to remain in the village where he grew pyrethrum.

“But with the crop’s market shrinking fast, I travelled to Nairobi and linked up with musician Joseph Kamaru as a backup singer. Kamaru is the one who taught me to be steadfast in my belief, be resilient in life and always be forthright in my word and deeds,” he says.

In the 1992 first multi-party elections, he braved the popular wave of change in Naivasha and vied for Maraigushu ward seat on a Kanu ticket.

He managed seven votes, a performance that Lake view ward representative or MCA, Simon Wanyoike, describes as “unpopular judgment that Mr Njoroge carries around like a permanent hangover and which is the root cause of his out-of-turn pronouncements.”

But Mr Njoroge says he failed to be elected owing to his disability.

“I was dismissed as disabled person who would not have the stamina and agility to execute his duties if elected. I was constantly reminded that as a man who walked on crutches because both my legs are paralysed, I was to be served and not to serve ,” he says.

To prove his detractors wrong, in 1993 he got a job as a foreman at a construction site, a job he held for two years.

Determined to make ends meet, he went on to work at a slaughterhouse in Nairobi’s Njiru area. He says he saved enough money to open a beauty boutique in 1996 which however failed.

The staunch Christian says he also tried running a kiosk behind Old Nation house but soon abandoned the idea and became a parking “boy” in the city centre.

His big break however came in 2013 at the launch of the National Alliance Party (TNA) at Nakuru’s Afraha Stadium where his political instincts edged him close to the organisers.

He was named head of a group of party supporters with disabilities, and handed a desk at the party’s headquarters.

His luck did not run out. After Jubilee won the elections, he was named the party’s Senate nominee for the disabled amid protracted court battles for the position.

But his recent comments leave him in a precarious position— a situation which he however shrugs off: “Time will vindicate me, or them. Our two opposing thoughts are valid opinions, neither me, neither them, has the gospel version of 2022.”

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