Sabina Chege: How a former broadcaster became one of Mt Kenya’s most durable political operators

Before Sabina Chege became a politician, she had already spent years listening to the people she would eventually represent.

At Kameme FM, she worked as a producer, broadcaster and later head of marketing and corporate communications.

The Kikuyu-language station placed her inside everyday conversations about farming, family, business and politics across Central Kenya.

That experience gave her something campaign strategists spend heavily trying to acquire: familiarity with the language, anxieties and mood of the electorate.

Chege later moved through business development before joining the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, where she rose to become Programme Controller for Commercial Radio Services.

By the time she left broadcasting for politics in 2012, she understood both sides of public communication - how to speak to an audience and how to manage the machinery behind the message.

From the studio, to Murang'a W-Rep contest

The 2013 General Election created the Woman Representative position, handing aspiring female politicians a difficult assignment: campaign across an entire county rather than within one constituency.

Chege entered the Murang’a race under The National Alliance, the party carrying Uhuru Kenyatta’s presidential bid.

Her media visibility helped, but recognition alone could not deliver a countywide victory.

She had to turn familiarity into an electoral organisation capable of reaching Murang’a’s wards, villages and local power networks.

She won, becoming the county’s inaugural Woman Representative.

Four years later, she retained the seat on a Jubilee ticket, confirming that her first victory had not been merely a product of the Uhuru wave.

Those two wins established her as more than a former presenter trying politics.

She had built an independent presence in a region where loyalty is intense but political favour can disappear quickly.

Building influence away from the mic

Inside Parliament, Chege moved into committee leadership rather than remaining a ceremonial county representative.

During her first term, she chaired the Departmental Committee on Education, Research and Technology and sat on the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee.

In her second, she chaired the powerful Health Committee, placing her at the centre of scrutiny over hospitals, health agencies and national policy.

Her parliamentary interests included education, maternal welfare and the management of blood transfusion services.

The work was less visible than campaign rallies, but it gave her institutional weight and relationships extending beyond Murang’a.

The gamble that tested her Mt. Kenya standing

Chege’s most consequential political decision came before the 2022 election.

While much of Mt Kenya was moving behind William Ruto, she remained within Jubilee and campaigned for Raila Odinga under the Azimio coalition.

She did not defend her Murang’a seat, but returned to Parliament through Jubilee’s nomination list.

The move preserved her place in national politics, although it weakened the direct electoral mandate that had powered her first decade.

Then came another turn.

Chege joined the Jubilee faction associated with EALA MP Kanini Kega, which moved closer to President Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza administration.

That placed her against the wing still loyal to retired President Uhuru Kenyatta and triggered an unsuccessful attempt by the Azimio minority to remove her as Deputy Minority Whip.

She survived the parliamentary battle, reinforcing the quality that has defined her career: political durability.

The woman inside Jubilee's succession battle

In July 2026, the Kanini Kega-led Jubilee faction declared the party leader’s position vacant and named Chege acting party leader pending a special delegates’ convention.

The move was immediately part of a wider struggle over who legally controls the former ruling party, meaning her elevation remains tied to a contested factional process rather than an uncontested transfer of power.

Still, the symbolism is difficult to miss.

The broadcaster who once explained public affairs to a Kikuyu audience is now positioned within the fight to inherit one of Mt Kenya’s most important political vehicles.

Chege’s strength has never rested on being the loudest politician in the region.

It lies in reading political movement early enough to remain relevant when old alliances collapse.

That adaptability has kept her close to power.

It may also define the next test of her career: proving that survival across changing camps can still be converted into trust at the ballot box.