Governor Mandago declares interest in Uasin Gishu senatorial seat
Jackson Mandago, who is the Uasin Gishu Governor on Friday, declared that he will be contesting for the Senate seat in 2022.
The outspoken Governor aged 47 years old and is currently serving his second term spoke at a funeral ceremony which he was attending is Kuinet, located in Soy constituency.
Mandago dismissed claims that anyone who wants to be a Senator should be a lawyer by profession saying that the option to elect someone belonged to the electorate.
“Let me ask you, is our senator Margaret Kamar a lawyer by profession? It is up to the people to decide who will respresent them in the county assembly, governor or MP,” he said, further urging the crowd to leave the Senate seat to him.
Mandago is amongst Deputy President William Ruto close alilies in the vast Rift valley region and he is expected to spearhead DP’s Ruto presidential campaigns ahead of the next general elections scheduled for August 9, 2022.
The move to run for the senatorial position is seen as moving from a bigger seat to a much lesser seat given that Governors run the budgets at county level.
The senators are tasked with overseeing that the money is well handled by the governors and also legislating.
In the 2010 constitution a governor cannot hold office for more than two terms just like in the case of Mandago who is serving his last term as Governor of Uasin Gishu.
The current Senator for Uasin Gishu is Margaret Kamar who also doubles up as the Senate’s Deputy Speaker.
She is the first woman to hold the position of Deputy Speaker in the history of the Kenyan senate.
Kamar also served as the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Moi University and has also served as a Member of Parliament and a Minister as well.
Mandago on the other hand boasts of two bachelors degree in biochemistry and also procurement and strategic planning from Kenyatta University and Catholic University of Eastern Africa CUEA respectively.
Before joining politics, Mandago was working at the Teacher's Service Commission (TSC).
