Some call him fearless, others regard him an irritant.
It was not until 2017 that Nandi Senator Samson Kiprotich Cherargei, or Mtetezi as he is commonly referred to by admirers of his human rights activism, came into national political limelight when he vied and won the Nandi Senate seat.
But by then, he was a household name in Nandi. The senator says he nurtured his leadership skills through activism.
A lawyer by profession and Senate’s Justice and Legal Affairs chairperson, he is one of the youngest legislators at Kenya’s Parliament.
Devolution champion
“I have been fighting for the rights of the people since my university days. I speak my mind and shoot straight from the hip. My grandfather was the late human rights advocate and legislator Jean-Marie Seroney. I got my activism from his genes,” said Cherargei.
But where he sees a defender of the people, others see an overzealous leader who lets his mouth get him in trouble.
In mid-August, Cherargei was arrested and questioned over utterances he made at a funeral in Lelwak, Nandi County, warning Deputy President William Ruto’s opponents that they’ll be dealt with.
“Those who are fighting the Deputy President, we (sic) are profiling you... if you fight (the) DP, you’re fighting us. Don’t think he doesn’t have supporters,” he said in his address.
“If you continue fighting the DP, we are marking you and profiling you. When the time comes we will deal with you. Even the DP has supporters and should be respected.”
Like the typical Kenyan politician, the Nandi senator had a classic political interpretation to what he meant.
“Nilisema tutawashugulikia kwa debe kisiasa (I said we will deal with them at the ballot),” he said following his release after a two-hour grilling in Kisumu.
Cherargei calls himself a defender of devolution. In March 2014, he broke his leg when a demonstration he was leading against the then county administration at Kapsabet town turned violent.
His demonstrations against former Nandi Governor Cleophas Lagat endeared him to voters, having lost his bid for Chesumei Constituency MP in the 2013 elections. In 2017, he trounced his rivals for the Nandi senate seat, garnering 92.5 per cent of the total votes cast. The senator’s love-hate relationship with his governor is widely publicised in county Whatsapp groups.
In May 2018, he accused Governor Stephen Sang of sidelining qualified personnel at the county for “slay queens” whom he said had been given senior jobs.
“It is good because the governor is here so that it does not become gossip. My concern is to find out the whereabouts of Sh13 million, which I am told might have been channeled to purchase water, mandazi and to entertain slay queens,” said the senator.
Yet it is Governor Sang who turned up to support him when he was arrested over his utterances last month.
He has also differed with Sang over Nandi’s inclusion in the Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB).
“My philosophy has always been strong-headed and independent-minded. I am independent-minded and I always think unconventionally, not with the masses. I was opposed to my county giving Sh200 million to LREB because we have pressing priorities than giving money to a moribund economic block that is going nowhere,” said Cherargei.
Others see him as the face of Rift Valley opposition to happenings seen as sidelining the DP. He is vehemently opposed to the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) initiated by President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition Chief Raila Odinga following the 2017 polls. He believes BBI’s intention is to frustrate the DP’s efforts to succeed Uhuru in 2022.
Cherargei is also outspoken against the war on corruption, saying it seems to target senior state officials and public servants from the Kalenjin community.
Succession battle
He has accused the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of profiling communities and linked high profile arrests over corruption to the 2022 succession battle.
But in an ironical twist, he also called for the sacking of former Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich “for running out of ideas to run the country’s National Treasury”.
He links his troubles to his opposition to the handshake and BBI, saying he is the second casualty after former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa.
“We should respect the freedom of opinion, conscience, speech and expression as enshrined in the Constitution. As the chair of Justice and Legal Affairs Committee of the Senate, I will not stand by and allow these rights to be trampled upon,” he says.
