PS Beatrice Inyangala to stir Kakamega governor race   

She is the talk of the county. She is poised to upset the apple cart.

Whether she makes a go at it or not, the outcome of the 2027 gubernatorial contest will be pegged on her decisions and actions.

 The Kakamega governorship race will certainly take a sharp turn early next year if the Higher Education Principal Secretary takes the gauntlet to run for the seat.

It is widely expected that Dr. Beatrice Muganda Inyangala will declare her candidature after expiry of the February 2027 deadline for civil servants wishing to contest in the August 10 General-Election to quit.

Which is why everyone is talking about her. Inyangala, a former University lecturer contested in the 2022 elections as the running-mate of the Kenya Kwanza candidate Cleophas Malalah on the Amani National Congress (ANC) ticket.

They lost to the the Azimio La Umoja Coalition candidacy of Fernandes Baraza of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and his running-mate Ayub Savula of the Democratic Action Party of Kenya (DAP-K).

However, the loss notwithstanding, the Principal Secretary is considered as the front-runner who out of the 12 constituencies in the vast populous county, her political backyards of Malava, Navakholo and Lurambi contributed 40% of the vote to President Ruto’s 140, 000 he obtained in Kakamega.

She is boosted by the fact that the three constituencies, plus the equally populous Lugari and Likuyani which also lean towards her candidature form 44 % of the total population of Kakamega County.

Since the advent of devolution 14 years ago, the Governor of Kakamega has come from the Western constituencies of the county.

The first Governor Wycliffe Oparanya who served for 10 years is a Marama from Butere while the current office-holder is a Wanga from   Matungu in Mumias.

There is a strong feeling that time has come for the leadership of the county to shift to another part of the county, with Kakamega North strongly claiming that stake.

Inyangala was born in Lurambi and is married in Malava.

ANC, a party founded by Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has since folded and merged with President William Ruto’s ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) while Malalah has decamped to the Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) led by immediate former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.

Though viewed in most quarters as the most advantaged competitor ahead of the battle, it is not clear whether Dr Inyangala will be handed her party’s ticket to run.

It is also not clear who between her and incumbent Fernandes Baraza will get the nod of the top honchos in the Broad-Based Government.

Though Baraza was in the Azimio camp that opposed Ruto in 2022, his party has since 2024 – via the craftsmanship of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga – weaved a working relationship christened as Broad-Based Government through which the deceased’s party leadership has resolved to back Ruto in his second term re-election bid.

Whereas Inyangala is a popular figure on the ground, her candidature will depend on the outcome of expected talks between the UDA and ODM top-notch functionaries.

 Should she secure the Broad-Based ticket, Inyangala will tough it out with Barasa, Malalah, Kakamega Senator Dr. Boni Khalwale of United Patriotic Movement UPM) which associates with the Linda Mwananchi Movement led by Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna and local County Woman Representative Elsie Muhanda of ODM.

It is not yet clear, however, who between Barasa and Muhanda will carry the ODM flag at the elections, considering that the outfit’s fraternity in Kakamega is grappling with factional internal feuds.

Though she too supports President Ruto’s re-election bid, Muhanda is allied to Co-operatives Minister Oparanya who is the immediate former Governor of Kakamega and does not see eye-to-eye with his predecessor in spite of both being staunch advocates of the Broad-Based Government which will have settle on one candidate between her, Inyangala and the current office-bearer.

Kakamega Deputy Governor Ayub Savula who had initially indicated after his defection from DAP-K early this year to UDA has since withdrawn from the governorship race with reports suggesting that he might go for the Senate post.

There are some behind-the-scenes talks that aim to push for a Baraza-Inyangala ticket to allow the sitting Governor to win and finish his second term with the Principal Secretary as his deputy and lay the ground for her to take a stab at the seat in 2032.

Others in the race include former Cabinet Minister Prof. Amukowa  Anangwe and hitherto unknown  Prof Sylvester Anami, though both have yet to clearly state which parties they would be running on.

Anangwe, just like Inyangala, is a very close ally of Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi while Anami cavorts around the Linda Mwananchi grouping.

Inyangala is an educationist who previously did time in the NGO world and taught at universities. Should her party approve her candidature, Inyangala will be the first woman to vie for the Kakamega governorship since the advent of devolution in 2013.

Barasa and Muhanda made their political debut in 2022 in which they were beneficiaries of the ODM wave that swept across the populous country.

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 ticket of ANC, a party then led by Mudavadi.

After his unsuccessful bid for governorship, he quit ANC to join UDA where he was appointed secretary-general.

But he was to be dismissed from the party in 2024 after the exit of impeached Gachagua with whom they co-founded DCP   where he now serves as Deputy Party Leader.

Khalwale is a politician of no mean achievement.

He was elected the 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 in 2017 for governorship floundered as he lost to Oparanya.

He retained the Senate seat in 2022 and was until December last year the Majority Whip in the Upper House.

He lost the House position after he campaigned for the Opposition candidate in the Malava parliamentary by-election held on November 27 last year.

Both ODM and DAP-K were members of the Azimio La Umoja coalition which at the time supported the presidential candidacy of former Prime Minister, the late Raila Odinga.

At the national level, ODM has entered into a loose memorandum of understanding in which they hope to approach next year’s election as one coalition.

On its part, DAP-K is ailing on a death bed. Most of its elected MPs and officials have since abandoned the party in favour of other spaces, leaving Mumias East MP Peter Salasya and Party Leader Eugene Wamalwa as the only faces of the outfit.

Among those who have left include Savula, Bumula MP Jack Wamboka, Kiminini MP Kakai Bisau and Engineer Maungu of Luanda.

As the clock ticks towards the next General-Election, all eyes are on Principal Secretary Inyangala in Kakamega County.