- Susan Kihika was born on December 11, 1974, the same year her dad, Kihika Kimani, was first elected to Parliament.
- After a twenty-year stint overseas, Susan Kihika returned to the country in August 2012.
- Before becoming governor, Susan Kihika served as the second Nakuru County Senator, having held the post from August 2017 to August 2022, when she contested for the Nakuru gubernatorial seat.
For close to five months, Nakuru County Governor Susan Kihika has been conspicuously missing in the county, raising eyebrows.
Since November 2024, Kihika has been running the county through social media, where she has been highlighting ongoing and completed projects, much to the chagrin of her constituents.
However, Kihika came out on January 17, 2025, to explain that she was expecting a baby and that she was on a long maternity leave, but the Nakuru residents seem not to have been convinced, and they now want her absence to be explained in detail.
Last week, a section of the Nakuru residents moved to the county assembly to ask members to interrogate Susan Kihika’s absence.
In their petition filed on Thursday, March 20, 2025, at the assembly, more than 2,000 residents, led by Evans Kimori and Mercy Akello, demanded full disclosure of Kihika’s whereabouts. They issued a 14-day ultimatum. But who is Susan Kihika?
Susan Kihika’s birth
Susan Kihika was born on December 11, 1974, the same year her dad, Kihika Kimani, was first elected to Parliament.
Susan Kihika’s family and social life
Away from politics, Susan Kihika is a family and a social person who will always find time for her family, friends, and her ventures outside public life. She is a mother of two daughters, Tiffany (Tiff) and Ashley. She also engages in wheat farming.
Her husband is businessman Samuel Mburu (kiongozi), a close ally of President William Ruto. During her traditional dowry ceremony at her mother’s home, it was the Ruto who led the negotiations for the groom.
Susan Kihika’s political career
After a twenty-year stint overseas, Susan Kihika returned to the country in August 2012. The general elections were to be held the following year, in 2013. These were the first elections under Kenya’s new constitution promulgated in 2010.
In these elections, devolution would be implemented, and Kenya would have Senators, Governors, and Women Reps who had previously not been part of Kenya’s political dispensation. The posts of councillors and mayor had also been scrapped to be replaced with a county parliament whose members would be called Members for County Assemblies (MCAs) led by a speaker.
Susan threw herself into the political ring, vying as MP for Bahati. Her greatest competitor was the incumbent, Hon. Onesmus Kimani Ngunjiri, a veteran KANU political operative. As fate would have it, she lost to Kimani Ngunjiri.
With the establishment of County Assemblies, Susan set out to vie as the first-ever County Assembly speaker for Nakuru. With the guidance of MPs David Gikaria and Kimani Ngunjiri, she threw her hat into the ring, and this is where her political skills first came into play.
From 2013 to 2017, she served as the first Nakuru County Assembly Speaker in the pioneer County Assembly after devolution took off. As Speaker, she oversaw the formulation of the county laws and bylaws, which set Nakuru County on the path to devolution.
While she was speaker, she also served as the vice-chair of the County Assemblies Forum (CAF). This is a body that brings together the speakers and MCAs across the country and acts as their lobby group.
During her tenure as the Speaker, she was also the Vice Chair of the County Assemblies Forum (CAF), an organization that brings together all 47 County Assemblies.
Susan Kihika survives impeachment
In 2014, an impeachment motion was brought against Speaker Susan Kihika. The speaker was accused of, among other things, “failing to discharge her duties impartially.” The motion was, however, defeated.
Before becoming governor, Susan Kihika served as the second Nakuru County Senator, having held the post from August 2017 to August 2022, when she contested for the Nakuru gubernatorial seat.
As a senator, Susan Kihika served as the majority whip for two years and was a member of the Senate Labour Committee until the end of her term.
Between 2018 and 2022, Susan Kihika served as the International Parliamentarians Union (IPU) League of Women Parliamentarians president. This is a world body that brings all women parliamentarians on board.
Ahead of the 2022 General Elections, Susan Kihika was a founding member of the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party and was instrumental in its grassroots mobilization and growth.
In 2020, Kihika lobbied for the Reproductive Health Bill to benefit the girl child, which was, however, rejected by the Senate.
Susan Kihika was elected as the governor of Nakuru County during the August 2022 General Elections and assumed office on August 25, 2022, after taking the oath of office.
Susan Kihika’s education background
Susan Kihika attended the University of Northern Texas in Denton, USA, where she graduated with a political science and government degree. She also holds a juris doctorate law degree from Southern Methodist University.
After her primary school at Busara Forest View Academy in Nyahururu, Susan Kihika attended Bishop Gatimu Ngandu Girls in Nyeri County before travelling to the USA in 1993 for further studies.
Susan Kihika’s professional career
After graduating with a law degree, Susan Kihika was admitted to the Texas State Bar. She was later employed by the US government as a prosecutor for the state of Texas at the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office.
Susan Kihika Net Worth
Although her net worth is not in the public domain, Susan Kihika is worth hundreds of millions, having been born in a well-off family. She is also married to a wealthy husband, Sam Mburu, who has heavily invested in real estate and clearing and forwarding companies.
Susan Kihika also had a twenty-year stint overseas and only returned to the country in August 2012 and ventured into politics.
Before returning to Kenya, she had also worked for the US government as a prosecutor for the state of Texas at the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office. She allegedly has a law firm in the US, which also earns her millions in monthly income.
