Karen Nyamu: How politics humbled me in 2017
By Elizabeth NgigiNominated senator Karen Nyamu has recounted her experience from 2017 when she first vied for a political seat.
In a throwback photo on her Facebook account, the mother of three has recalled how confident she felt of clinching the Nairobi Woman Representative seat back then.
Looking back, Ms Nyamu now can’t help but chuckle at how naïve she was, knowing full well how far she was from realizing her political aspirations.
“TBT 2017 when I first vied for a political position. I had already believed that I was the next Nairobi Woman Rep. Opponents wangu nilikua nawahurumia tu ni vile nilikua niwashinde na mbali sana nikikumbuka nacheka,” she wrote.
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She said at the time she was eagerly looking forward to the Jubilee nominations to prove herself as a serious contender for the seat.
However, her aspirations were quickly met with the harsh reality of the political world. She only managed third place out of 11 aspirants, with 46,000 votes.
Ms Rachel Shebesh won the elections with a staggering 119,000 votes, with Ms Milicent Omanga coming second with 65,000 votes.
Despite her loss, Nyamu still felt that she had given it her all and could not be convinced that she had been cheated out of the victory.
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Her experience in politics had taught her an invaluable lesson – that politics would always have a way of humbling even the most confident of aspirants.
“But you will never convince me sikuchezwa mahali my friend, Politics will humble you,” she said.
In the run up to last year’s General Election, Ms Nyamu initially expressed interest in contesting the Nairobi Senatorial seat but later stepped down for UDA’s Bishop Margaret Wanjiru, who lost to ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna.
Ms Nyamu was later nominated as a senator by the UDA party. In October 19, 2022, Karen was also elected the Vice Chairperson of the Standing Committee on National Security, Defense, and Foreign Relations.
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