Before President Mwai Kibaki's second controversial tenure in office, little was perhaps known about former Othaya MP Mary Wambui.
Her appointment to National Employment Authority last week caused outrage among Kenyans, with President Uhuru Kenyatta condemned following the move.
“Mary Wambui was working at [the] Kanu office before I [began] school. That she is old, didn’t go to school and isn’t known for any business employing people are self-evident truths.
"To make her Chair of [the] National Employment Authority in [the] digital age, Jubilee must be trying Dark Humour!” a tweet by outspoken lawyer Donald Kipkorir summed up her CV.
During Jubilee party nominations in 2017, Wambui, who first won the seat in 2013, lost to little known Gichuki Mugambi.
But Wambui's name hit headlines during post election violence in 2008, with various human rights groups linking her to retaliatory attacks in parts of Rift Valley.
In 1978, Mr Kibaki appointed her as manager of his Rware Farm in Naromoru. It’s from this point that her fortunes are said to have changed for the better.
It’s said that after she became manager of Rware Farm, people in Nyeri dropped the name “Wambui wa Kanu”, as they used to call her, and adopted her new moniker “Wambui wa Mwai”, as she called herself during meetings.
With opposition leader Raila Odinga accusing her of links to Artur brothers, Wambui's influence in Kibaki goverment was also part of the talk in town.
Her red-tiled house on Mzima Springs Road in Lavington was a favourite stopover for those seeking high-level political access during the Kibaki presidency.
Ms Wambui hit the headlines in March 2009 when President Kibaki, flanked by his immediate family, called a press conference to declare that he had only one “dear” wife, Lucy, a briefing viewed as an attempt to disassociate himself from Ms Wambui, who had claimed to be his wife.