MP Njeri Maina: Why my music career flopped
Kirinyaga woman rep Njeri Maina — who jocularly introduces herself as one who milks porcupines while seated on lions—says a digression into the music industry nearly threw her career search into disarray.
She explains that the milking kicker and the teasing effect she seeks is that of inspiring her fans that no task is unachievable for the determined—that you can actually even take your lunch inside a furnace and proceed to take a nap.
“That is the roho juu (daredevil) spirit effect that I seek to inculcate among my fans, that you can dare dream and break the chains of inabilities even where pundits report zero chance,” she told Nairobi News.
The 30-year-old petite legislator says while at the University of Nairobi pursuing law she got enticed into music where she joined Grandpa Records and released four singles.
“I was a second-year law student when I ventured into music. However, the digression took toll on my academic acumen and I deteriorated in some units, forcing my father to intervene by way of ordering me to think outside the box and choose what was more promising,” she says.
She says she entertained a short-lived fantasy that she could rapidly rise into global musical charts and make a bold imprint in the entertainment sector, giving her loads of cash.
Before she left the entertainment industry, she featured in Bahati’s song Najua featuring Vivian and made the conscious season to concentrate on ‘bigger’ things.
“The bigger things ended up being a different form of audiences where instead of the entertainment stage, I found myself in public rallies and floor of the house instead of the dance floor,” she says.
Elected at 29 years of age during August 9, 2022, General Election on the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) ticket, she is being mentioned as among those who can emerge as a frontrunner in the race for Kirinyaga governor after the incumbent Anne Waiguru exits in 2027 after serving her final second term.
She has retained the entertainment industry traits where he public presence exudes humour, dance, rap and comedy and her ever-happy face radiates love to her audiences.
She says she is a leader on the move and there is no reverse gear in her desire to scale the heights.
“Much the more I would say I am content with being the Kirinyaga woman rep for now, should the chance present itself as a blessing by voters and God, you can bet I cannot run away from the promotion.
It would be refreshing for Kirinyaga to have a governor who is 33 years old,” she said.
She says by the time she is 70 she will have surpassed even her expectations “since I cannot fall carrying the title President Njeri Maina”.
Born and raised in Kibingoti village, Ms Maina attended a school with a mouthful of a name—Kiangoma Primary School. In the local dialect, Kiangoma means “devil’s home”. She proceeded to Kabare Girls High School also in Kirinyaga County where she gained direct entry into the university to pursue law.
She did set up Njeri Main Law Advocates as her law firm in 2021 and after endearing herself through offering free legal clinics to her people, they rewarded her in kind in 2022 when they voted for her.
She has cut for herself a niche of advocating for the rights of the youth, disabled and the elderly while at the same time pushing a Bill of Parliament that seeks to ban hospitals and mortuaries from holding on to a patient or a body over unpaid bills.
She says the success of the Bill is a matter of life and death “since the evil ways of our health sector where mourners are denied bodies of loved ones as well as recovered patients being detained in hospitals over unpaid bills are like psychological terrorism in the society”.
She says she is also committed to the cause of youth and women in leadership and calls upon security personnel to ensure violence is eradicated in the campaigns for elective posts “since youthful and women candidates cannot accumulate enough guts to counter violent campaigns”.
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