Kitui West MP Edith Nyenze. She is the widow of former cabinet minister Francis Nyenze ( Photo Courtesy)
Her late husband Francis Nyenze was one of the most dominant figures in Kitui County and to some extent Lower Eastern region politics.
Elected to Parliament on a KANU party ticket as Kitui West MP during the 1997 general election, Nyenze quickly became one of former President Daniel Arap Moi's blue eyed boys in the region.
Not long, he was appointed to the cabinet as environment minister.
The fiery legislator would establish himself as one of the most respectable figures in the region's political scene. He forged a very close political relationship with former Vice President and Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka.
Nyenze was very instrumental in Kalonzo's political deal with former Prime Minister Raila Odinga in the run up to the 2013 general election.
With CORD coalition assuming the opposition role after that election, Nyenze became the National Assembly Minority leader.
But even with his failing health, he was re-elected for another term during the 2017 general. However, he died a few months later after a long battle with cancer.
In the resulting by-election, as a reward to the former minister's family, his widow Edith Nyenze, was nominated by Wiper Party to fly its flag.
Edith, a career teacher, was easily elected to pick up from where his late husband had left. In 2022, she was re-elected for a second term.
But will she establish the political dominance that the late minister had managed to build for the two decades that he was in the game? Well, only time will tell.