Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya has suffered yet another big political blow in his quest to defend his seat in the 2027 general elections.

This is after one of his influential supporters, Godricks Wanyonyi, who composed and sang “Natembeya Unapendwa” campaign song in 2022, defected and joined the camp of Natembeya’s opponent, Kiminini Constituency Member of Parliament, Maurice Kakai Bisau.

Speaking to People Daily Digital after joining the Fungua Movement, founded by Bisau, Wanyonyi said his decision to decamp from Natembeya’s Tawe Movement is informed by the Governor’s unfulfilled campaign promises.

“Today, I speak with a sad soul, but also as a citizen who still believes that leadership must be about the people, not promises,” Wanyonyi stated.

“It is true, I have chosen a new future, one free from false hope, and anchored on leadership that delivers real service to the people of Trans Nzoia. The Trans Nzoia we are in today is not the Trans Nzoia I envisioned when I sang “Natembeya Unapendwa,” he added.

Wanyonyi said Natembeya has failed to deliver the people of Trans Nzoia from poverty he promised them under his famous Ukombozi Manifesto.

“The song, especially the lines ‘Kumutambo kukhumala, Engunyi Ekhumala‘ (Poverty is finishing us, abject Poverty is killing us), were not mere lyrics. They were a plea—and a pledge—to the Governor George Natembeya to place service delivery above everything else,” the musician said.

Some of Natembeya’s insiders argue that Wanyonyi’s change of allegiance does not have a significant impact on Natembeya’s political ambitions.

This comes at a time when there is a lot of mass exodus from Natembeya’s Tawe Movement due to perceived mistrust of the movement’s objectives and the founder’s abrasive politics.