PROFILE: Margaret Jepkoech Kamar – Nicholas Biwott’s Wife And Political Go-getter

Many Kenyans were astounded the first time Professor Margaret Jepkoech Kamar declared publicly that she was one of three wives of the late powerful cabinet minister Nicholas Kiprono Kipyator Arap Biwott.

She is one of the most experienced politicians in the country having been in Parliament since 2007 when she was elected as MP on an ODM party ticket.

Prof. Margaret Kamar, the Canada- educated soil scientist would go on to serve as High Education minister in the Grand Coalition Government between President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

In 2013, she defied the then Eldoret North MP William Ruto to support ODM party leader Raila Odinga in his State House bid. The gamble backfired as she lost in her bid for Uasin Gishu County Governor position.

But Prof. Kamar, the wife of former powerful KANU era cabinet minister Nicholas Biwott, would bounce back in style in 2017 when she was elected as Uasin Gishu County senator on a Jubilee Party ticket. This happened after making peace with Dr Ruto.

In 2020, Prof. Kamar was elected as Senate Deputy Speaker to succeed Prof. Kithure Kindiki who had been kicked out amid bitter fallout between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Ruto.

However, in the run up to the 2022 general election, Prof. Kamar was among those who decided to stick with Raila in his State House bid.

But the ground was becoming very hostile. As such, she decided not to defend her senator position. But she found her way back to the Senate as a Jubilee Party Nominated Senator.

But amid the power tussle in Jubilee Party, Prof. Kamar continues to play a neutral stance. And so, she is positioning herself well for the 2027 poll.

In her political pursuits, Kamar has been careful not to invoke the name of her late husband Nicholas Biwott whose name was mentioned in the 1990s’ unresolved murder of his former Cabinet colleague Robert Ouko. Those close to Biwott disclosed a soft side of the man, away from the clench-fisted persona popularized by the media, revealing him actually as a statesman, patriot and a philanthropist.

For the first time, Biwott’s whole family, one of his otherwise closely guarded life, was revealed to the public during his requiem mass, with his eldest wife Hannie Biwott, leading his children and grandchildren in mourning the man.

Among his tribesmen Biwott’s attributes in improving the livelihood of the Kenyans he interacted with, led to him being nicknamed “Maendeleo (Development) or Karnet (Kalenjin for steel hardened).

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