Despite these relatively harsh conditions, one Kenyan politician has stood the test of time, winning all the six elections he has participated in over the past 25 years.

The current Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi currently holds the record for being the only Kenyan leader who has won six consecutive elections.

Interestingly, Murungi has won each election with a different party and has served as an MP, a senator, and now as a governor.

With a thick Meru accent and a famous chuckle, the 65-year old politician has often joked that he “is not as foolish as he looks”.

Murungi has two master’s degrees in law, including one from the prestigious Harvard University where he was friends with former US President Barack Obama.

In 1992, the Meru Governor joined electoral politics and won the Imenti South seat on a Ford Kenya ticket.

He was re-elected in 1997 on a DP ticket; in 2002 on a NARC ticket, and in 2007 on a PNU ticket.

Murungi would later found the “Mbus Party” APK which he used to contest the Meru Senate seat successfully.

In his characteristic survivor mode, the former powerful minister won the Meru Governor’s seat on a Jubilee ticket.

Noteworthy, Murungi has played a critical but often overlooked role in shaping the Kenyan political scene.

He headed the merger of small parties into the Jubilee Party; co-chaired the committee that came up with new Elections Act; spearheaded the radical Judicial surgery that was tasked with cleaning the Judiciary; and was the Opposition’s shadow Attorney General in the 1990s when KANU was in power.

Murungi had also represented NASA leader Raila Odinga in the late 1980s when the current Opposition Chief was in detention.