Former Kesses MP Mishra Kiprop is seeking to rebuild his political fortunes around an education and healthcare agenda, promising to expand youth training, improve school enrolment and strengthen medical services if given another chance to represent the constituency.
Mishra says his plan would place technical and vocational education, maternal healthcare and emergency medical services at the centre of his programmes, with a particular focus on young people and residents living along major roads in Kesses.
Speaking during a Radio Generation interview on Tuesday, Mishra said he would continue with his previous education sponsorship programme, which he said supported thousands of young people to acquire technical and vocational skills.
He said his administration had sponsored 2,000 youths every year for training in polytechnics and pledged to expand the programme if he returned to elective office.
“In my time, our time, we did 2,000 youths free polytechnically. We fully sponsor from our side, 2,000 every year. So five years, 10,000.”
Mishra said education support would not be limited to technical training, adding that he would also target primary and secondary schools to improve literacy, enrollment and transition rates.
His goal, he said, would be to achieve universal literacy at the primary level while ensuring more learners proceed to secondary school.
He argued that academic education should go hand in hand with practical skills, saying young people needed training that could help them secure jobs or start businesses and other income-generating activities.
Education has previously featured prominently in Mishra's community programmes. Ahead of the 2022 General Election, reports indicated that he was supporting more than 400 students in secondary schools and colleges. He also issued bursary cheques and supported school expansion projects with about Sh110 million.
On healthcare, Mishra proposed using technology to make maternal care more accessible, saying expectant mothers should be able to monitor their health and that of their unborn babies without having to make frequent trips to health facilities.
He proposed smartphone-based ultrasound or sonography services that would allow pregnant women to access information about their condition while at home.
“Every expectant mother will have free access to daily sonography through smartphone from her house,” he said, linking the proposal to early detection of complications and efforts to reduce maternal deaths.
Mishra also wants a specialised emergency medical facility established along the highway to respond to road crashes and other critical cases.
The proposed facility would have ambulances, operating theatres, intensive care beds, a blood bank and medical workers available around the clock.
“We will have one highway accident emergency unit. We'll have two theatres, six or eight-bedded ICU, 24 hours, and blood bank and health facility, emergency health facility, surgeon and support staff and paramedics.”
He said emergency patients should not be denied or delayed treatment because they could not raise a deposit or make an advance payment.
Under his proposed system, patients would first be stabilised and treated, with questions about payment handled separately.
Mishra's proposals come as he seeks to regain political influence in Kesses after losing the parliamentary seat in the 2022 election.
A medical doctor and former lecturer at Moi University, Mishra entered elective politics in 2017 when he won the Kesses seat on a Jubilee Party ticket. He became the first non-Kalenjin MP elected in Uasin Gishu County.
He sought re-election in 2022 as an independent candidate after falling out with President William Ruto and the region's emerging United Democratic Alliance political establishment.
He lost the seat to Julius Ruto, then a former Uasin Gishu County Executive Committee Member for Finance and Economic Planning. Julius Ruto received 32,839 votes against Mishra's 21,404, according to results reported after the election.
Mishra later joined UDA and in November 2024 was appointed by President Ruto as chairperson of the Kenya Biovax Institute board for a three-year term. He was later suspended by the President and replaced by Charles Githua Githinji.
His latest proposals bring education, healthcare and economic empowerment back to the centre of his political agenda, alongside agricultural support, cooperative farming, youth empowerment and expanded digital access.