A former boda boda rider from Limuru is the latest sensation in Kiambu County after he was elected Limuru Central MCA.
Kahenya, 28, took oath of office on Thursday at Kiambu County Assembly buildings.
He says his ambition into politics came in an unexpected way when he found himself in the boda boda business a short while after quitting his mechanic job at a garage in Limuru town.
Kahenya, a diploma holder in mechanical engineering landed his first job at Simba Colt Motors but had to quit five months later because the salary could not sustain him in Nairobi.
He returned to Limuru where he was employed by a friend at his garage as a mechanic.
The father of one saved up and bought his motorcycle to get him to work and back home.
When there were no vehicles to repair, he would shift to being a boda boda rider and with time, he realized he was making more money than when at the garage. He ventured into the business fulltime.
He rallied other operators to form the Kwambira Boda Boda Sacco. Through the group, the sacco was loaned two motorcycles through Kiambu Biashara Fund and this marked a start to his political journey.
“When my colleagues saw we had acquired two motorcycles, they started calling me ‘MCA’, a name they spread all over the ward and beyond. I couldn’t imagine everyone in the village was looking for Kahenya to see him. They started in November last year,” he says according to the Star.
It dawned on him that he was a potential leader and from then, he began popularizing his bid for the seat.
In April he beat incumbent Joseph Murugami to clinch Jubilee Party ticket.
He faced off eight candidates at the ballot, all of whom were wealthy unlike him who campaigned on his boda boda.
“The problem I faced was that it was a competition of eight aspirants, since some were in other political parties against me, who was in JP.”
“I didn’t lose hope. I used to walk or ride my motorcycle campaigning, but some drove vehicles.”
His vision is to empower the youth, women and people with disability.
As a show of appreciation to the support he got from boda boda operators, Kahenya gave his bike to Chege Karanja, alias Segi, who often borrowed it for boda boda business.
By Pharis Kinyua. He’s an online Journalist and an author for Jamhuri News.