Former Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi has been appointed the new Non-Executive Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Competition Authority of Kenya.
The appointment was announced through a Gazette Notice issued by President William Ruto on Friday, June 26.
At the same time, the government revoked the appointment of Charles Mahinda, paving the way for Murungi to take over the leadership of the board.
Murungi will serve a three-year term.
"In exercise of the powers conferred by section 10 (1) (a) of the Competition Act, as read together with section 51 (1) of the Interpretation and General Provisions Act, I, William Samoei Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces appoint Kiraitu Murungi to be the Non-Executive Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Competition Authority, for a period of three (3) years, with effect from the 26th June, 2026," the notice read.
Read More
This comes months after Murungi announced his retirement from active politics, choosing instead to dedicate his efforts to promoting happiness and mentoring political leaders.
Speaking on Tuesday, January 27, he revealed that he had learned valuable lessons from his political journey and decided it was time to step away from the electoral arena.
Murungi admitted that losing the 2022 election nearly pushed him into depression, having known nothing else for over thirty years.
The experience, he said, was so difficult that he never wants to return to that dark place again.
"It is true, I was very, very unhappy when I lost the elections. I thought I would win. Every politician thinks they are going to win. They are very surprised when they lose. And then you have no plan B. So it comes, you are totally lost.
"There is a phenomenon called post-election depression that has not been adequately highlighted in the scholarship. But we will go through it. And for me, when I was in that space, that's when I started thinking about happiness, because I was very, very unhappy myself," he confessed.
Murungi explained that while he is stepping away from electoral contests, he will continue to engage in what he describes as "low-temperature politics," which essentially involves providing advisory services to political leaders and contributing to democratic discourse without the intensity of campaigning.
"This is not about politics, and I even said I've retired from electoral politics, and this has broadened my mind. But now I'm in low-temperature politics, and I find it intriguing. Even if you don't see me now singing on top of trucks and all that, yeah, I'm still thinking about democracy," he added.
