Chebor vs Komen: Supremacy battle heats up Rongai politics

The political dynamics of Rongai Constituency read nothing short of a script from a movie.

Since the early 80s, the Members of Parliament who have served in the constituency have only gone for one term.

The curse was broken only recently by the former MP Raymond Moi, who managed to serve for two terms, before he was ousted by Mr Paul Chebor, alias Mamba, during the 2022 general elections.

At the moment, the political heat seems to be turning up in this constituency with two names Kibet Komen and MP Chebor locking horns in a supremacy battle.

Immediately after the election and swearing in of Mr Chebor, Kibet made his intentions clear to to try and dethrone the 2027 general elections.

As Mamba was contending with the fierce criticism from Mr Kibet another battlefront openned up early in 2024, after he differed with Governor Susan Kihika.

During this time, Kibet Komen took the time to make his case as to why he wants to replace the current MP.
The attempt by the two UDA politicians to reconcile in July 26, 2025, after Paul Chebor felt the governor was not keen on keeping their relationship.

Chebor while at a forum in Mercy Njeri lamented being manipulated by a certain leader in the UDA party.

“You know we had chosen to stick together because of the party, but if it’s not working, we have to abandon. We are now going to factory settings,” read part of the article.

Samson Ekales, a resident, says that at the moment the political landscape of the constituency is quite intriguing.

“We are seeing two individuals who are totally different. The current Member of Parliament, I would say, is not a man of the people, but we have Komen, who, even though he may not be the legislator, has managed to speak out and even lobby for the needs of the Rongai constituents in different capacities,” he says.

Kimani James, also a resident of Rongai, tends to disagree with Samson, and he says that the current MP has made an impact in a way no other MP before him has done.

“The impact in the leadership of the current MP is unlike anything we have experienced before. One of the major challenges we have had is roads; for example, in Visoi he has been able to address this,” he says.

When it comes to addressing the issue of the squabbles between the Governor and the legislature, both give very divergent views on the matter.

According to Ekales, the main reason why issues arose between the Governor and the MP was because of their differences in how to handle matters of governance.

“Chebor and Susan were very close after the 2022 general elections; however, after that period Chebor wanted to exert his influence and have the Governor carry out some of the suggestions with regard to who would work for her. The Governor refused, and this led to them not seeing eye to eye,” he narrates.

However, Kimani says the situation is quite the opposite.

“Chebor has time and again come out to show his full support for the Governor; however, the same has not been reciprocated, and there are those within the Governor’s camp who are working to have him ousted. Therefore, the MP did not see any need to continue supporting the governor,” he says.