Ex-Inter Milan Star McDonald Mariga to vie for Kenyan MP seat

Former Inter Milan player McDonald Mariga on Monday quit football to try his hand in politics after accepting a nomination by Kenya’s Jubilee Party to be its candidate in a by-election for a parliamentary seat in Kibra constituency.

32-year-old Mariga’s announcement ends a 16-year playing career despite him currently being without a club.

“I have retired from football and have decided to go and give back to the community,” Mariga told the media on Monday.

Mariga beat 15 other candidates who wanted to vie for the seat which fell vacant following the death of Ken Okoth, who succumbed to colon cancer in July aged 41.

Mariga will face off against aspirants from other political parties on November.

Mariga said he is running for Kibra seat as a way to give back to the community.

“I know how residents there live having been in karanga myself. So, I want to give back to the society,” he said and denied reports that he was influenced to run for the seat.

His interest in the seat has drawn a lot of attention due to his celebrity status, due to a successful football career, having made history as the first Kenyan and East African to play in the champions league.

The Raila Odinga- led Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) is set to hold primaries this weekend, while the Amani National Congress (ANC) has already settled on Eliud Owalo, who was once a political advisor of the former Prime Minister.

Mariga hails from a family steeped in football tradition. His father, Noah Wanyama, was a coach and football administrator while his brother, Victor Wanyama, currently plays for English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and is captain of the men’s national football team.

Mariga’s most successful spell came in 2010 when he won the “treble” with Italian club Inter Milan claiming the Series A title, the Coppa Italia and the UEFA Champions League.

He has also played for other European clubs such as Enokpings, Helsingborgs, Parma, Real Sociedad and Real Oviedo.
Mariga will hope to emulate former Boston Marathon champion Wesley Korir who served as MP for Cherangany constituency between 2013 and 2017.

Mariga is not the first former African footballer to join active politics.
Former AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, and Chelsea player George Weah won Liberia’s presidential elections in December 2017 and succeeded Ellen Johnson Sirleaf after two failed attempts.

Former Liverpool and West Ham striker Titi Camara was appointed Guinea’s sports minister by President Alpha Conde in 2010 but was then replaced in a government reshuffle two years later.

Recently, Egyptian Mohammed Sala also had over one million voters add his name, to a ballot he had not even contested in, in the Country’s last election.