The Return of Simon Mbugua: Dramatic Politician Edges Out Jaguar

EALA Member of Parliament, Simon Mbugua, has made a return to elective politics after clinching the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) ticket for the Starehe Constituency.  UDA issued a nomination certificate to Simon Mbugua to fly the party’s flag in the Starehe Parliamentary race.The nomination contest was largely a two-horse race between incumbent legislator Charles ‘Jaguar’ Njagua Kanyi and Mbugua. EALA Member of Parliament Simon Mbugua speaking to the pressCourtesy While issuing Mbugua the nomination certificate, UDA’s National Elections Board (NEB) stated that it based its decision on an opinion poll that ranked him ahead of Jaguar. “The National Election Board wishes to notify the public that after consultation between UDA and ANC, there will be no joint nominations for Dagoretti North and Mathare constituency,” National Elections Board Chairman Antony Mwaura stated.“Instead, alternative methods will be used to identify nominees. This, therefore, means there will be no universal nominations between the coalition partners as earlier communicated,” he added.Mbugua is the son of a billionaire, Mbugua Githere. He, however, doesn’t attribute his success to his wealthy father but rather to sheer hard work and networking.He stated that he first saw his father after completing high school and that the two didn’t have any kind of bond. In a past interview, he stated that his mother was not legally married to his billionaire father. She, instead, resolved to raise him alone and instituted values in him which included working hard.“My mother was a teacher, and she got to know Githere. She was Mbugua Githere’s mpango wa kando. He never married her but he was still my blood father. And I can say I was raised by a single mother.   EALA Member of Parliament Simon Mbugua speaking to the pressCourtesy “Us children who were rejected by our father and his family have made it in life. God has opened ways for us, and I think we are far much better than people who inherited their father’s billions. We worked for our money,” he argued. The politician maintained that he made wealth on his own. His influence came to play when he was nominated for the EALA seat.