President William Ruto has appointed former Rarieda MP Nicholas Gumbo and former Kesses MP Swarup Mishra to be chairpersons of the Kenya Sugar Board and Kenya Biovax Institute respectively.
Mishra, a medical doctor-turned-politician roared into the limelight in 2017 when he won the Kesses parliamentary seat on a Jubilee ticket in Ruto’s home county of Uasin Gishu.
His meteoric rise to politics seemed bright until his fallout with Ruto in 2022 when he failed to align with the region’s dominant political party- United Democratic Alliance (UDA) and chose instead to run as an independent candidate and was floored by a former county staffer Julius Ruto who got 32,839 votes against Mishra’s 21,404.
Mishra’s political fortunes
Following his loss, the former MP’s fortunes began to crumble after President Ruto swept to power against the strong backing of the state in favour of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Mishra’s hospital chain Mediheal suffered a major blow after the defunct National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) removed it from its list of healthcare providers. This would be followed by the Teachers’ medical Insurance provider Minet also abandoning the hospital, further crashing Mishra’s fortunes.
At the height of his tribulations, Mishra pointed at the state for what he termed as blackmail when auctioneers came knocking on his door.
“After 2 years of living on my knees under constant threat and losing millions to systemic blackmail; I wake up to find everything I’ve worked for for over 20 years is being auctioned. Where are we headed as Kenyans? Am I the only political target? no. We are many,” Mishra said in July 2024.
His redemption journey began on May 17, 2023, when he led a section of the Asian community in abandoning the Jubilee party and joining the ruling UDA.
“I confess today, the mistake and the blunder I did…I made the wrong decision, wrong direction, wrong party and wrong people but today, God sent me where I belong with a lot of forgiveness and blessings,” Mishra said after defecting.
Gumbo’s political cold
On the other hand, former Rarieda MP Nicholas Gumbo who is set to become the Kenya Sugar Board chairperson twice unsuccessfully vied for the Siaya gubernatorial seat in 2017 and 2022, losing to Cornel Rasanga and James Orengo respectively.
Gumbo was briefly handed a state appointment to be the Cabinet Administrative Secretary in the Ministry of Roads and Transport before the courts declared the positions unconstitutional.
The politician has been in the cold for seven years following the decision but has remained aligned with the Kenya-Kwanza administration.
Kenya Sugar Board is set to begin managing the affairs of the sugar industry following the enactment of the Kenya Sugar Bill by Ruto on November 1, 2024.
