• He has had a long fight to defend his true identity and education credentials.
• In 2010, he was captured on camera chasing and throwing stones at a group of people he said were grabbers.
Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu alias Baba Yao is a clourful politician whose public life is dogged by controversies and sometimes hilarious moments.
He made a name for himself in Nairobi leading throngs of youths to pull down walls around allegedly grabbed public land. TV cameras once caught him, his coattails flying, chasing away and stoning people he said were illegal developers.
He was an Honourable Member of Parliament at the time.
Baba Yao's life story sounds like fiction: he rose from a councillor in the city to deputy mayor, then MP, assistant minister in the Kibaki government, left city politics and became MP in neighbouring Kiambu before he was elected governor.
All this for a man whose true identity and formal education were once the subject of a gripping and prolonged public dispute.
Not eloquent in English or Kiswahili - sometimes making humorous comments that turn him into the butt of endless jokes on social media - it is difficult to fathom the kind of spell Waititu casts on voters wherever he goes. He is popular.
He seems to be more comfortable dressed in hanging shirts, caps and all manner of jackets - and such attires better affirm his comical personality - than suits and ties.
Waititu says he studied at Panjab University, India, in the 1980s and his name was Clifford Ndung’u Waititu. But his political competitors hotly dispute the claim.
FICTION STORY
Baba Yao's life story sounds like fiction: he rose from a councillor in the city to deputy mayor, then MP, assistant minister in the Kibaki government, left city politics and became MP in neighbouring Kiambu before he was elected governor.
All this for a man whose true identity and formal education were once the subject of a gripping and prolonged public dispute.
The first-time governor sat for his Certificate of Primary Education exams at Mbagathi Primary School in 1975, completed his secondary school at Dagoretti High School in 1981 and obtained a degree in commerce from the Indian university.
Born 1962, Waititu ventured into active politics in 2002 when he was elected to City Hall as a councillor for Njiru ward. He would subsequently be elected deputy mayor.
In 2008, he won the Embakasi parliamentary seat following the death of newly elected Melitus Mugabe Were.
Were was killed by unknown people a few days after clinching the seat, a situation that gave Waititu who had come second a clear chance.
President Mwai Kibaki appointed him assistant minister for Water in 2010.
In 2013, Baba Yao contested the Nairobi gubernatorial seat but lost to Evans Kidero.
He did not stay in the political cold for long. He easily won a by-election in Kiambu in 2015 following the shooting dead of MP George Muchai with his bodyguards and a driver in Nairobi.
Little was known about Waititu while at City Hall but once he became the MP for then expansive Embakasi constituency, his true colours shone.
He led fierce battles against his adversaries, sometimes finding himself on the wrong side of the law as he would engage in physical confrontations with alleged land grabbers.
In 2010, Waititu was captured on camera chasing and throwing stones at a group of people he said were grabbers.
In 2012, he called for eviction of the members of Maasai community from the constituency for being “ outsiders”.
On April 6, 2012, Waititu would also find himself in trouble when he led demonstrators to protest against demolition of houses by alleged grabbers in Umoja estate.
Waititu and his supporters were arrested for allegedly hurling stones at the police.
He was bundled into a police vehicle and taken to Milimani law courts where he was charged with incitement.
When elected Kiambu governor in 2017, he was the first to support a controversial motion to reserve 70 per cent of the jobs for locals.
Critics pointed out the motion amounted to ethnic-based discrimination in a cosmopolitan county and in a country struggling to build national cohesion.
Months letter, the governor caused uproar when he told the state that rivers should be diverted instead of demolishing buildings on riparian land.
Last year, Waititu found himself in a storm when a recording of his conversation with Nairobi Governor mike Sonko went viral.
He was apparently pleading with Sonko to release his (Waititu's) wife and contractors to continue with what was said to be an unapproved building project within the CBD.
In January, Baba Yao came out to defend himself over allegations by Sonko that they used to hide in a toilet in Parliament to smoke bhang during their days as MPs.
Waititu has openly identified himself with the Tangatanga faction of Jubilee that supports Deputy President William Ruto's ambition to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta.
When a Senate committee accused him two weeks ago of misusing public funds through bizarre expenditures, Ruto came to his defence. Treasury later clarified the problem was with the national automated financial system Ifmis.