With just 5 months to the General election, sports stars becoming politicians is not new in Kenya or around the world. Some sports personalities have won, while many others have seen their political ambitions and dreams going up in smoke.
Teamkenya.co.ke takes a look at sports stars who vied for a political seat and the outcome
1. McDonald Mariga
The brother of Montreal star Victor Wanyama made an unlikely move in August 2019 following the death of former Kibra MP Ken Okoth. Kibra is an area that is home to the largest slum in Kenya's capital city Nairobi and a cosmopolitan constituency.
Mariga unsuccessfully contested for the parliamentary seat on a Jubilee ticket in fierce by-election, squaring it out with ODM’s Imran Okoth.
Imran Okoth won the mini-poll after getting 24,636 votes with Mariga coming in second with 11,230 votes. Before the Kibra by-election, Mariga only made headlines because of his successful football career locally and in Europe.
As August 9 polls draw closer, it is not yet Mariga if Mariga will vie for any seat.
Also Read: Bahati Slum in Nakuru County Producing Lucky Footballing Talents
2. Dan Wanyama
The Member of Parliament for Webuye West and a member of the Parliamentary Service Committee on sports was a national volleyball team player. He was the overall team captain at the 1999 All African Games in Johannesburg, South Africa.
He was famously referred to as ‘Amboseli’ captured the seat after garnering 11,145 to trounce veteran Bungoma politician Joash Wamang’oli who managed 10,176.
This was the second attempt for the former Kenya Airways and Cooperative bank attacker who captained the national team for several years and was overall captain for the Kenyan contingent to 1999.
Wanyama was the second sportsman to clinch a parliamentary seat at that time in the 2013 general elections.
3. Dan Shikanda
The AFC Leopards chairman and former player for the popular Western club was the running mate for Peter Kenneth in the 2017 Nairobi gubernatorial race which they lost to the then Governor Mike Sonko who succeeded Evans Kidero.
It was not the first time for the former AFC Leopards star to try his luck in the murky world of politics. He had contested for the Makadara parliamentary seat but lost.
4. Wilfred Bungei
The Beijing Olympic Games 800m gold medalist quit athletics to try his luck in politics. He was however floored in the battle for Emgwen Constituency supremacy in August 2017 in Nandi County to Alex Kosgey, the son of the former cabinet minister Henry Kosgey.
He won the 800 m gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He also won at the World Indoor Championships in Moscow in 2006 the 800 meters title, defeating Mbulaeni Mulaudzi and Olympic Champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy in the course of the race.
5. Sammy Kosgei
He is a former Kenyan middle-distance runner who specialized in the 800 meters and is a former record holder. He was a one-time nominated councilor at the defunct Nandi County Council. He ran for the Emgwen parliamentary seat but lost in the 2013 General Election.
6. Wesley Korir
Wesley Korir (born 15 November 1982) is a former Kenyan long-distance runner, who specialized in road running competitions, and a politician. On 16 April 2012, he won the Boston Marathon with a time of 2 hours 12 minutes 40 seconds. He had previously won the Los Angeles Marathon in 2009 and 2010, the first back-to-back winner there in eight years. He took second place in the 2011 Chicago Marathon in a personal-record time of 2 hours 6 minutes 15 seconds and improved that personal record by 2 seconds in the 2012 Chicago Marathon.
In 2013, Korir was elected a member of Kenya's Parliament as an independent candidate representing the Cherangany Constituency. Although elected as an independent, in 2016 he joined the Jubilee Party. In 2017, he lost a bid to represent Jubilee as the MP for Cherangany Constituency.
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