Jubilee candidate in the 2017 race for Kakamega Governor seat dies of COVID-19

By Abel Amala and Brian Okoth

Former Kakamega gubernatorial hopeful Mabel Muruli is dead.

Muruli died at the Kenyatta National Hospital on Thursday night (October 29) shortly after being transferred to the facility from the Karen Hospital in Nairobi, her brother, George Muruli, has told K24 Digital.

Mabel succumbed to COVID-19, George said.

“She was at the ICU wing at Karen Hospital before being transferred to the KNH for specialised care,” said George Muruli.

Terming Mabel’s death as a big blow to the Muruli family, George urged Kenyans to observe the Ministry of Health’s directives on COVID-19.

“People should not treat this disease lightly; it exists, and it is serious,” he said.

Until the time of her demise, Mabel Muruli was a non-official director at the Ewaso Ngiro South Development Authority.

In the lead-up to August 8, 2017 general election, Mabel first expressed interest in unseating Governor Wycliffe Oparanya through Amani National Congress (ANC) Party ticket. After failing to get ANC’s approval, Mabel -- in December 2016 -- decamped to Jubilee.

With 14,323 votes, Muruli, the Jubilee candidate, came third after ODM’s Wycliffe Oparanya (first with 387,999 votes) and Ford Kenya’s Boni Khalwale (second with 134,999 votes). Muruli, however, defeated ANC’s Michael Osundwa Sakwa, who got 8,652 votes and KANU’s Kanyanya Sumba, who garnered 3,643 votes.

Meanwhile, the Kenya National Union of Nurses secretary in Kakamega County, Renson Bulunya, is undergoing self-isolation at home after contracting COVID-19.

Bulunya told K24 Digital that he was advised to self-quarantine by doctors after being examined.