Arthur Magugu is perhaps remembered by many as the only MP who served the entire term on sick leave having not attended any House session when he was elected Githunguri MP in 2002.
Magugu had returned as the area MP after 10 years in the political cold on a Kanu ticket riding on a wave that swept Kiambu when President Uhuru Kenyatta ran unsuccessfully for the presidency.
However, with his health already badly deteriorated, Magugu only made it to the swearing-in ceremony in Parliament never to appear again during the rest of his term that ended in December 2007. He died five years later.
But hold on, Magugu was not your everyday typical Kenyan politician. During his heydays in the 80s, Magugu was a towering political figure who gained prominence in Central Kenya after he edged out the 'Kiambu mafia' led by cabinet ministers Mbiyu Koinange and Njenga Karume who had massive influence during Kenyatta's administration.
According to Daily Nation, Magugu quickly endeared himself to President Daniel Moi after Kenyatta's death in 1978 making Moi elevate him to a full Cabinet post.
The man described as 'soft-spoken and self-effacing' and one who gave the 'false image of a shy man yet he was a hands-on politician', became so powerful that he hounded out Dr Josephat Karanja, then Githunguri MP, defeating him twice in 1979 and 1983 elections.
In fact, Karanja who later became vice-president briefly, never saw Parliament until he shifted his political base to then Nairobi’s Mathare constituency through a by-election in 1986 after area MP Andrew Kimani Ngumba fled the country amid political turbulence.
As the Nation further documents, Magugu's hands-on style emerged when he was appointed Health minister after the 1979 elections.
"He is remembered for impromptu visits to hospitals, giving orders to medical staff to ensure quick attention to the sick and suspending those who were not found at their workstations," the paper reports in a 2012 article.
Magugu is also remembered for a famous statement he made after a Mercedes-Benz car he was driving was involved in a fatal accident with another car in Kiambu in 1983.
"I was driving a safe car. Had it not been for this, I would be dead,” he told journalists as quoted by the Nation.
Also in 1983, as Finance minister, he postponed the reading of the Budget by a week, the only time in Kenya’s history the Budget was delayed.
Magugu reportedly told journalists at his Treasury Building office that the delay was 'a small matter' as every minister was facing a big battle for political survival.
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