PS Beatrice Inyangala tops list of scholars eyeing Kakamega Governor’s seat
Higher Education Principal Secretary Dr Beatrice Muganda Inyangala’s name is among those that have emerged from academia seeking to take a stab at the Kakamega County governorship.
Expectations in most parts of the county are that Inyangala will exit the Civil Service in February next year and formally announce her intentions to oust incumbent Fernandes Barasa at the polls slated for August 10.
Public servants wishing to contest for various seats in the 2027 General Election have until February to resign before joining the campaign trail.
If she eventually opts to run, Inyangala, a former lecturer at Moi University, will be joined from academia by Baraza, former Cabinet Minister Prof Amukowa Anangwe and Prof Sylvester Anami.
Outside academia, others angling for the Kakamega governorship are local Senator Dr Boni Khalwale, his predecessor Cleophas Malalah and local Woman Representative Elsie Muhanda.
Former members of the now-defunct Amani National Congress (ANC), Inyangala and Anangwe are drawn from the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA).
On the other hand, Baraza and Muhanda are members of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), an Opposition party that entered into a working relationship with UDA in 2024 under the Broad-Based arrangement.
It is yet to be established who between Inyangala and Anangwe will secure the UDA ticket, just as it remains unclear who will get the ODM ticket between Baraza and Muhanda.
Similarly, it remains to be seen whether, courtesy of the Broad-Based rapprochement, both UDA and ODM will settle on one candidate or allow their respective candidates to go it alone at the ballot.
What is certain, however, is that, unlike in the past, the seat of Kakamega Governor has attracted a considerable number of scholars.
In December last year, Governor Barasa graduated with a PhD degree from Kenyatta University. While he was elected on the ODM ticket, his deputy, Ayub Savula, was from the Democratic Action Party of Kenya (DAP-K), which he has since left to join UDA.
ODM and UDA were part of the umbrella Azimio La Umoja coalition that rallied behind the presidential candidacy of the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Education Principal Secretary Dr Beatrice Muganda Inyangala, former Cabinet Minister Prof Amukowa Frederick Anangwe and rookie politician Prof Sylvester Elkana Buti Anami have all taken up the gauntlet within the UDA corner, with their eyes focused on the coveted seat currently occupied by Barasa.
Prof Anami, a botanist, is a rookie politician with impressive academic credentials. Prof Anangwe, a political scientist with revered intellectual prowess, has joined Dr Inyangala in the desire to dethrone ODM’s Barasa.
Save for Anami, the rest of the aspirants are experienced politicians with track records to boost their bids.
Inyangala and Anangwe are close allies of Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, while Baraza, a former confidante of the late Raila, has closer ties with President William Ruto.
Inyangala is an educationist and consultant who previously taught at Moi University and worked with a number of local and international non-governmental organisations.
She contested for the position of Kakamega Deputy Governor in 2022 on the ANC ticket as a running mate to Malalah.
They were defeated by the Barasa-Savula pairing.
Pundits consider the Principal Secretary a front-runner with strong footprints in the county, where, out of the 12 constituencies, she boasts of strong backing in her backyards of Malava, Navakholo and Lurambi, which contributed 40% of the vote towards her candidature in 2022.
Additionally, Lugari and Likuyani also lean towards her candidature and, together with the other three constituencies, form 44% of the county’s population.
The westerly constituencies of the county have produced its governors since the advent of devolution 14 years ago.
The first Governor, Wycliffe Oparanya, who served for 10 years, is a Marama from Butere, while the current office-holder is a Wanga from Mumias.
Strong arguments are now being put forward that the time has come for the leadership of the county to shift to another part of the region, with Kakamega North strongly claiming that stake. This is particularly so given the fact that Oparanya betrayed the region when he discarded his then deputy, Prof Philip Kutima, who hails from the populous Malava constituency, and instead backed Baraza to succeed him.
Inyangala was born in Lurambi and is married in Malava.
Even though she is perceived as the pack leader, it remains to be seen whether Inyangala will be handed her party’s ticket to contest.
Similarly, it is also unclear who between her and Baraza will get the go-ahead from the top leadership of the Broad-Based Government.
Though Barasa was in the Azimio camp that opposed Ruto in 2022, his party has, since 2024, through the craftsmanship of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, forged a working relationship known as the Broad-Based Government, through which ODM’s leadership resolved to back Ruto in his bid for re-election for a second term.
Her popularity on the ground notwithstanding, Inyangala’s candidature will depend on the outcome of expected talks between the UDA and ODM top functionaries.
Should UDA give her the nod, Inyangala will be the first woman to run for the Kakamega governorship since the advent of devolution in 2013.
At the moment, all eyes are on every move and word Principal Secretary Beatrice Inyangala makes in Kakamega County.
Between 2023 and last year, Anangwe served as the chairman of the Council of the University of Nairobi (UoN).
He had previously served as MP for Butere and Minister for Co-operative Development, as well as Minister for Medical Services.
Prior to his appointment to the UoN position, Anangwe had been a senior lecturer at Dodoma University in Tanzania.
Little-known Anami is associated with the Linda Mwananchi Movement (LMM) party headed by Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna.
The 51-year-old don is a Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Fellow and PIFI Fellow.
Born in Ibukase village of Shiseso Sub-location in Ikolomani Constituency, Anami is making his debut in politics.
He has spent most of his life in academia. For two years now, Anami has been involved in pro-people grassroots engagements across Kakamega County.
Governor Barasa and Woman Representative Muhanda made their political debut in 2022 and benefited immensely from the ODM wave that swept across the vote-rich Kakamega County.
Before joining politics, Barasa had been the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco).
Malalah registered his presence in Kakamega County way back in 2013, when he was elected as the MCA for Mahiakalo Ward in Kakamega Town, Lurambi Constituency.
In 2017, he successfully contested the position of Senator on the ANC ticket, a party then led by Mudavadi.
In 2022, he again staged a bid for the Kakamega governorship on an ANC ticket but lost to ODM’s Barasa.
He later quit ANC to join UDA, where he was appointed the ruling party’s secretary-general.
Two years down the line, he was shown the door at UDA following the departure of impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, with whom they would co-found the DCP, where he is the Deputy Party Leader.
Khalwale is a veteran politician.
He was first elected MP for Ikolomani in 1997. He served for 10 years, half of them as Assistant Minister for East African Co-operation.
In 2013, he was elected the first Senator of Kakamega. His bid for the governorship in 2017 flopped as he lost to Oparanya.
He retained the Senate seat in 2022 and was, until December last year, the Majority Whip in the Senate.
Khalwale lost the House position after he campaigned for the Opposition candidate, Seth Panyako, in the Malava parliamentary by-election held on November 27 last year.
At the national level, ODM has entered into a loose memorandum of understanding through which the party hopes to approach next year’s election as part of one coalition.
ODM has been demanding that Kakamega County be zoned in its favour during the coming polls as one way of maintaining the pact.
However, no concrete deal has been reached between the two parties regarding the matter.
It remains to be seen whether UDA will cave in to ODM’s demand and whether the UDA camp will remain intact in the face of such an eventuality.
