Time UDA MP Njeri Maina Tried Music & Featured In Bahati's Music Video

You may not have noticed this but once upon a time, Kirinyaga Woman Representative Jane Njeri Maina was a musician and a video vixen in one of singer Kevin Bahati's music videos.

The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) lawmaker on Thursday, January 11 took a trip down memory lane through a post on her official Facebook page showcasing a photoshoot she had in 2015.

Maina was a singer (stage name Carola Jayne-CJay) under Grandpa Records and her last song was a love song titled Mr Left released nine years ago, though her music did not shake up the country's airwaves.

"I had this performance at CBD for my new song at the time. I was certain that I was the next big thing in music, certainly, it wasn’t true," she wrote.

The post sent a flurry of mixed reactions from her followers and fellow politicians including Nominated Senator, Karen Nyamu, as some asked if one of her songs was still in existence on the internet, which Viral Tea managed to retrieve here:

As though that was not enough, Viral Tea stumbled upon Bahati's music video for his song Najua featuring Vivian, where Njeri was among guests at Bahati's mock wedding, indicating that she may well have been versed in the entertainment scene before her sharp rise in the Kenyan political scene.

Here it is below:

Njeri Maina Profile

Njeri was born in 1994 in Mugumo, Kirinyaga County and began her education at Kiangoma Primary School in the same county. As the last born, her short stature meant that she walked to school slower than her peers and was often punished for lateness.

After her Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE), Njeri proceeded to Kabare Girls High School and later Nairobi University to pursue law and was admitted to the bar as an advocate of the High Court in 2019.

Other than musician, she also tried her hand at entrepreneurship, where she sold anything she could think of in Nairobi, other than quail eggs.

She would venture to the Gikomba market very early in the morning, purchase mitumba clothes, photograph them, and post them on her Facebook page dubbed Carolla Njeri Collections, taking advantage of numerous buyers as her competition was yet to explore the social media platform to bring in prospects.

“I would do the marketing and delivery, even though I did not have a shop. My parents discouraged me, saying that I was stooping too low for money. But I wanted to be independent,” Njeri, who is fondly nicknamed Gacheri by Kirinyaga residents, told Inooro TV in an interview.

In 2017, Njeri made her first foray into politics when she vied for the position of Speaker of the Kirinyaga County Assembly at the age of 23 and out of 25 contestants, she emerged third with just one vote.

She, the speaker and the second runner-up were the only ones who received votes and while the experience left her with valuable lessons, it stepped up her political ambitions even more.

In 2022, she vied for the Kirinyaga women rep seat. Many people had discouraged her, with one person remarking that she would fail so hard that she would leave an imprint of a person on the ground.

For campaign money, she organized harambees and one of them was attended by 200 people which managed to raise Ksh250,000. Half of the money was contributed by family members, and she used it to pay for her UDA nomination ticket.

However, tragedy struck when her father died even before she had actualized her dream of becoming a woman rep. She went into grieving while still on the campaign trail.

“I would hide somewhere and cry before I went to address the crowd,” she said, adding that she did not want sympathy votes.

Despite the setback, she would clinch the seat with an overwhelming 175,001 votes, outcompeting big names such as former County Assembly Speaker Anne Githinji, former County Director of Administration Shujaa Rose Wachira, Narc Kenya’s Elizabeth Kamami and businesswoman Emma Wambui. Her predecessor, Purity Ngirici, switched from the Kirinyaga woman representative seat to the gubernatorial race.

According to Njeri, her mother continues to treat her the same way she did before becoming a legislator. She still commands her to wash utensils and do other house chores.

Unsurprisingly, the beautiful lawyer has received many proposals from admirers, stating that "I blue tick them to protect my space because 99% of them did not know me before I became a leader."

Screengrab of Njeri Maina featuring in Bahati's music video 'Najua' on October 22, 2020. /YOUTUBE