'Faya si faya': All fired up as roadblocks mounted to screen voters in Mbeere
Peter Kimani
By
Peter Kimani
| Nov 28, 2025
By the time you read this, various politicians will have been installed as MPs, Senators or MCAs in the various by-elections that were conducted in different parts of the country yesterday. One region that has captured the nation’s attention is Mbeere North—I had no idea it had been divided, and who was its previous MP—which says a lot about my interest in local politics.
That was then. My interest has been more than piqued in recent weeks, as our two Deputy Presidents—Kithure Kindiki aka Soprano and his predecessor Rigathi Gachagua aka Riggy G—who insists he’s the still the DP, despite his ouster last year, sparred.
For those who have forgotten, Riggy G was ousted last year and replaced by Kindiki. The impeachment was such a severe body blow, it sent Riggy G to the hospital. He has since rebounded, captured in videos as he traversed every inch of Mbeere North, sipping tea and engaging in small talk with villagers.
What has been most striking about the Mbeere North and other constituencies where by-elections were held this week is that I didn’t hear any of the candidates speak. Those who spoke, hoisted from car’s sun-roof, did not say what was at stake for locals, only the declaring to show their competitors dust.
“Faya si faya!” chanted Soprano in that shrill voice of his, like a trumpet blown from the bottom. “Faya si faya!” The crowd seemed all fired up, with one video clip doing its rounds online capturing Leonard Muthende’s supporters warning Riggy G against setting foot in their hamlet, or risk having some of his body parts (too sensitive to invoke here), boiled for breakfast, instead of nduma.
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In retaliation, Muthende was turned into the butt of village jokes, apparently because his name sounds like something close to a sensitive anatomy of the body. I understand he changed his name in the past, and perhaps those who renamed him probably did not have the nuances of name meanings in Mbeere lore.
In a certain sense, Mbeere, as in any other regions where by-elections were held this week, from the Coast to eastern, Nyanza and western Kenya, have shown rare flashes of honesty: the singular issue of the day are the frayed egos of Riggy G and his former boss, Prezzo Bill Ruto. Nothing more, nothing less.
And because of their outsized egos, it was projected that the by-elections would attract voter turn-out that would put to shame Tz’s 98 per cent that purportedly restored Samia Suluhu Hassan back in the State House in Dar.
Which is why police roadblocks have been deployed in Mbeere North—even after they had been outlawed by the courts—to screen those streaming into polling stations. Police have rejected claims that such deployments are meant to intimidate voters, but to offer help when needed.
Besides helping direct voters to the proper areas for voting, I understand police will be on the lookout for “goons” trying to infiltrate the polling stations, because they wear identifiable uniforms.
I have no idea what Muthende does for a living, besides changing names, or even how he plans to transform the lives of his constituents. I know Newton Kariuki aka Karish, having encountered the diminutive singer on the stage many moons ago, making syncopated dance moves marked by flailing arms and swinging waistlines.
I don’t know that Parliament needs such skills, but you never know. And if Karish has a night job as a singer, Bunge would be an ideal day job as it meets only 2.5 days a week, and he could sleep through some of the sessions, after a night out, after which one is guaranteed a pension for life, among other emoluments.
That’s the gravy train that was interrupted for Riggy G and he’s still smarting. He’s determined to curtain his former boss’s continued enjoyment of the same, especially if his man wins in Mbeere.