News:
October 30, 2026
Ahead of Kenya’s 2027 elections to elect lawmakers for a five-year mandate, the youngest member of the Senate—who entered through a by-election eleven months ago—Senator Kiprono Chemitei of Baringo County, has noted that the youth are fired up and inspired to take up political office and serve as Senators and Members of Parliament.
As both the Senate and National Assembly are on recess, some executives of the Parliamentary Press Corps, together with the Media Relations Department, on a study tour to the National Assembly, caught up with Senator Kiprono Chemitei on Thursday, October 29, 2026. He passed by and shared his experience so far in the Senate.
According to him, his experience has not been bad. “I was elected through a by-election; I am serving my eleventh month since I was elected and trying to catch up. In Kenya, managing leadership is very expensive. Previously we used to elect those who are well established in life, those who have made it.”
Senator Kiprono further pointed out that he has just come out of university, and having been elected as Senator, he is trying to catch up and to be realistic.
“Me, I tell them I do not have that much money; the little I have, let us share. There are those who have been there for a long time; they have the resources. Without the resources, it’s very difficult to be elected. What worked for me is that I resonate with the electorate. I set the agenda; they see me as one of them. So they felt we are electing one of our own. After the election, I have not turned my back on the electorate. Everywhere they invite me, I go. Every weekend I have to travel out of Nairobi, have to mingle with them, and make sure I prove the point that I am one of them.”
“Within two or three hours I drive out of the capital, Nairobi, to my people, and depending on the traffic situation, to Baringo.”
“Again, I am one of the vibrant Senators. We have elections coming up next year; there are young people who are inspired for political positions. I have done a lot, and that has given them the belief that it’s possible.”
“And I will say the National Assembly should belong to the young people. We are energetic; we can move around and resonate with our people on the challenges electorates are facing on the ground. We are the people to address them. In the Senate, the Upper House, our roles are very minimal—oversight, representation, and legislation are our roles as Senators. But as a Member of the National Assembly, our work is to do oversight and ensure that resources are well utilized.”
“I do oversight as a member of the Senate; currently I can oversight every county within the Republic of Kenya because I do not have any boundaries, and I ensure that resources are well utilized. For National Assembly MPs, they do development—in their case they have allocations to undertake development; they can construct schools, roads, and hospitals. But with the Senators, we do not have resources allocated to us to undertake that. The only allocation we receive is for the operation of our office workers and movement.”
When questioned, in light of National Assembly members being given money for development, who gets paid higher, he noted that their salaries are the same.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/EcowasNewsOnline.com