For August 9 elections in Kenya, the country’s Indian origin doctor, Dr Swarup Ranjan Mishra is campaigning silently to retain his Kesses parliamentary seat for a second consecutive term.
Incidentally, Dr Mishra had created history in the country to become the first Asian to win in the country’s parliamentary polls in 2017.
Contesting as an independent on his own right, Dr Mishra’s campaign stages are mobbed by the fringe supporters who danced to the tune of popular Kenya songs. Elections are always unpredictable but going by his past unprecedented record and work for the people of the constituency his supporters feel, the doctor will come back.
In the August 9 General elections in Kenya, voters will elect the President, members of the National Assembly and Senate, county Governors and members of the 47 county assemblies. The Constitution requires that a presidential election take place at the same time as the general election.
This time the race for the Kesses parliamentary seat is expected to be one of the epic political battles in the vote-rich Rift Valley, with the incumbent Dr Mishra facing an arduous task defending it as an independent candidate in a region where the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) also enjoys some support. Dr Mishra, who was elected on a Jubilee party ticket in 2017 to emerge the first lawmaker of Asian origin in the cosmopolitan Uasin Gishu County, is out to break the jinx of one-term MPs associated with the seat.
Going by his history, Dr Mishra belongs to Odisha and passed MBBS from that state too. A gynaecologist Dr Mishra obtained his Kenyan citizenship long ago and practiced there for decades and established four hospitals in Kenya besides many schools starting from primary to higher level. Dr Mishra had jumped in Kenyan politics and contested the last Kenyan parliament elections from the “Jubilee” political party and got elected by defeating a Kenyan contestant by huge margin.
Kenya has a vibrant community of persons of Indian origin presently numbered around 80,000, including an estimated 20,000 Indian citizens. India and Kenya are currently serving in the United Nation Security Council. They are also members of the Commonwealth. Kenya is an active member of the African Union, with which India has longstanding ties.