Former Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi has revealed that he got into depression after losing the gubernatorial race in the August 2022 elections.
Speaking on Wednesday in an interview with TV47, the former Governor said he was in shock after losing the elections as it was the first time in 30 years.
"Initially after losing the elections I was in shock, disbelief and I actually got very sad. I also got depressed after some time and because people were around me crying they had also lost, so I decided to take a break from all that," he said.
Kiraitu said he had plans of retiring from politics but something pulled him to view during the August 2022 elections.
"I was to retire, however, politics pulls you and I found myself in a campaign for governor’s race. Then 2022 was very intense and surprisingly we lost. For the first time in 30 years I had lost an election," he said.
Kiaruti added that he was overconfident that he knew the game of politics.
He said he left Kenya for Uniter Kingdom to visit his daughter and ended up staying for two weeks.
"Basically, I was doing nothing but trying to calm myself and reflect again on my circumstances and realised there was nothing to be sad about. Seeing what I had done for Meru people for many years was enough."
He has been in politics since 1992 and has formerly served as minister of justice and Constitutional Affairs and as the shadow attorney general.
Prior to being the governor in 2017, Kiraitu served as the Senator for Meru County after winning the seat under the Alliance Party of Kenya (APK) ticket in the 2013 elections.
Kiraitu formed his owner party, Devolution Empowerment Party ticket, MBUS.
The party joined Azimio on March 8, 2022, and said it would back ODM leader Raila Odinga for his presidential bid.
He then vied for the Meru gubernatorial seat in the August 2022 polls but finished third.
He failed to retain his seat for the second term after he was defeated by the current Governor Kawira Mwangaza.
Early this year in April, he was appointed by President William Ruto as the chairperson of the National Oil Corporation of Kenya.