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From Burning Charcoal To Parliament; Meet Kuresoi North MP Elect Alfred Mutai

SK 2 years ago 2 min read

Alfred Mutai, a former Sirikwa Ward Member of the County Assembly (MCA), won the election for the Kuresoi North parliamentary seat on Tuesday, August 9.

With 25,365 votes, Mutai, who was running on the UDA Party ticket, easily defeated Moses Cheboi, a former deputy speaker of the National Assembly who was seeking to hold onto his seat. 20,395 people voted for Cheboi.

The life of Alfred Mutai is a tale of grace from grass. Born in Kaplong, Bomet County, Mutai was forced to work multiple jobs, including burning charcoal illegally, in order to survive after his parents passed away in 2001 while he was still in Form One.

Mutai, the fourth of nine children, claimed that in order to pay for his education, he had to balance working as a server and burning charcoal in the Kuresoi forest illegally.

“Losing a parent at a young age was not easy. It forced me to work at a tender age to join hands with my elder siblings to support the others and also so that I (could earn) money for my school fees, but luckily I completed my studies after hustling all through,” he told the Nation in a previous interview.
He recalls a situation in which he was detained and charged in a Molo court after forest rangers invaded his property on the basis of a tip that he had cut more than 1,000 tree trunks.

After failing to post bail, he was taken into custody in Nakuru GK Prison, where he was later released to complete six months of probation.

“I knew the business was illegal but I had no alternative. I needed to go to school myself and my siblings were also studying, but I thank the magistrate for hearing me out during mitigation before sentencing,” explained Mutai in the interview.

Following his election victory, Mutai thanked God for the win saying “I want to tell everyone out there that there is God and what He has planned for you, no one can change.”

“We want to transform this country’s economy and bring down the cost of living which has left many Kenyans struggling to survive,” he said adding that his main agenda would be addressing unemployment and upgrading infrastructure for the people of Kuresoi North.