Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen (born 12 March 1979) is a Kenyan lawyer and politician serving as the Cabinet Secretary for Ministry of Interior and National Administration. He is also the former Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports and also former cabinet secretary for Roads, Transport, and Public Works in Kenya. Murkomen is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya and a three-time elected Senator of Elgeyo Marakwet County.

Early life and education

He is the son of Johanna Murkomen Kanda and Mama Margaret. Murkomen studied at Chawis Primary School in Embobut Forest, Marakwet East where he sat for his

Kenya Certificate of Primary Education The Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) was a certificate awarded to students after completing the approved eight-year course in primary education in Kenya. The examination was supervised by the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) ...

exam in 1993. He was not satisfied with the exams results and decided to retake the exam in 1994. He later joined St Joseph's High School

Kitale Kitale is a town in the north west of Kenya, in the former Rift Valley province, between Mount Elgon and the Cherangany Hills. It has an elevation of around . Its population was as of 2019. It is the location of Kitale Airport. The National ...

and transferred to St Patrick's High School

Iten Iten is a town in Elgeyo-Marakwet County in the Republic of Kenya and serves as the capital and is the largest town in the county. International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) awarded the town with a plaque recognising Iten as a Wo ...

, where he sat for the

Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education The Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) is an academic certificate awarded to candidates upon completion of secondary education in Kenya. The first KCSE exam was held in 1989 at the same time as the last Kenya Advanced Certificate of ...

exam. In the year 2000 Murkomen joined the

University of Nairobi The University of Nairobi (uonbi or UoN; ) is a college, collegiate research university based in Nairobi and is the largest List of universities and colleges in Kenya, university in Kenya. Although its history as an educational institution dat ...

, Parkland Campus and graduated with a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

in 2004. While studying, he was elected chairman of Fellowship of Christian Unions’ National Students Executive Council. He was later awarded a scholarship to study a master's in law at the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria (, ) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and ''de facto'' capital of South Africa. The university was established in 1908 as the Pretoria campus of the Johan ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. He further studied at the

American University Washington College of Law The American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL or WCL) is the law school of American University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It is located on the western side of Tenley Circle in the Tenleytown section of northw ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Career

Before he got into competitive politics, Murkomen was a political analyst and commentator at Citizen TV just before the 2013 general elections.

Politics

Senate

Murkomen was first elected as Senator for

Elgeyo-Marakwet County Elgeyo-Marakwet County is one of Kenya's 47 Counties of Kenya, counties. Located in the former Rift Valley Province, its capital and largest town is Iten. It borders the counties of West Pokot to the north, Baringo County to the east, southeast ...

in 2013 on a United Republican Party ( URP) ticket. He vied for the same seat during the 2017 elections, this time on a

Jubilee party The Jubilee Party of Kenya is a major political party in Kenya. It has significantly influenced the country's political landscape since its founding on 8 September 2016. Emerging from a merger of 11 smaller parties, including The National Alli ...

ticket and was re-elected to a second term. Murkomen was elected majority senate leader in 2013, but he was later replaced by West Pokot Senator Samuel Poghisio as the Senate Majority Leader. in 2020.

Cabinet

Before his nomination as a cabinet minister, Murkomen had been elected for the third time to be the senator for

in the 2022 general elections in a UDA party ticket. Murkomen won the seat with a 141,091 votes against his competitor former Elgeyo-Marakwet County governor Alex Tolgos who vied under the

Jubilee Party The Jubilee Party of Kenya is a major political party in Kenya. It has significantly influenced the country's political landscape since its founding on 8 September 2016. Emerging from a merger of 11 smaller parties, including The National Alli ...

and came second. He resigned as the senator in order to take the position of Cabinet Secretary. In September 2024, he participated at the 10 kilometer race] at the Nairobi City Marathon and completed successfully.

Controversy

NYS Scam Funds

In December 2016 Murkomen was accused of Money laundering, laundering funds received from NYS scam by receiving ksh 15 million($120,000) into his law firm's bank account as part of the money received from the scam then paid out to Out of the Box solutions which then paid Murkomen's law firm account. According to Murkomen's law firm the money was used to buy land in Eldoret on behalf of a client of the law firm who is also a reported suspect of the scam. The National Assembly public accounts committee that was investigating the matter demanded the law firm produce a land sale agreement and documents showing instructions for property purchase but the law firm declined citing confidentiality. Murkomen was reported to send insulting short text messages to committee members for demanding the documents. According to the committee there was no proof any land was bought using NYS scam share of loot sent to Murkomen's law firm account and he was politicizing the matter without accounting for the specific money the law firm was accused of receiving. In the same month, December 2016 Oscar Sudi and former Nandi Hills Member of Parliament, Alfred Keter demanded that Murkomen carry his own cross in the scam, and that he should specifically explain how he received Sh 100 million ($900,000) from the NYS scam that he used to buy properties in Elgon View estate in

Eldoret Eldoret is a city in the Rift Valley region of Kenya. It serves as the capital of Uasin Gishu County. Located in western Kenya and lying south of the Cherangani Hills, the local elevation varies from about at the Eldoret International Air ...

without dragging other

Rift valley A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges produced by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear ...

members of parliament into the scam or seeking sympathy from them. In February 2016 Anne Waiguru filed an affidavit in court claiming Murkomen and

William Ruto William Kipchirchir Samoei Arap Ruto (born 21 January 1967) is a Kenyan politician who is the fifth and current president of Kenya since 13 September 2022. Prior to becoming president, he served as the first elected Deputy President of Kenya, ...

's then aide as Deputy president Farouk Kibet were part of a larger cartel that stole money from the NYS scam using fraudulent tendering. Following the affidavit EACC summoned Murkomen and Farouk Kibet over the scam. In April 2016 Anne Waiguru and another suspect in the scam Josephine Kabura filed further affidavits claiming that Murkomen had warned them to tell DCI to drop the investigations or face unspecified consequences. In August 2018 Murkomen claimed

Raila Odinga Raila Amolo Odinga (born 7 January 1945) is a Kenyan politician who served as the Prime Minister of Kenya from 2008 to 2013. He was the Member of Parliament (Kenya), Member of Parliament (MP) for Langata Constituency from 1992 to 2013 and has ...

also pocketed a share of the NYS scam funds amounting to Ksh 100 million ($900,000) through Junet Mohammed who received money through questionable NYS contracts with Junet's companies. Murkomen claimed Junet took some of the money to

. In May 2020 a Nairobi High court found that the Public Accounts committee of

Parliament of Kenya The Parliament of Kenya is the bicameral legislature of Kenya. It is based at Parliament Buildings in Nairobi and consists of two houses. The upper house is the Senate, and the lower house is the National Assembly. See also * Politics of K ...

had no power to recommend to the DPP to prosecute the matter as its not an investigative agency.

Personal life

Murkomen is married to Gladys Wanjiru Kipchumba and is a father to three sons and a daughter. Murkomen is a supporter of English

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

.https://www.teamkenya.co.ke/news/4737-top-kenyan-politicians-and-teams-they-follow-epl

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murkomen, Kipchumba 1979 births Living people 21st-century Kenyan lawyers Kenya School of Law alumni University of Nairobi alumni University of Pretoria alumni People from Elgeyo-Marakwet County Members of the Senate of Kenya Jubilee Party politicians