History has been made in Kenya as seven women who were elected in the August 9th general elections were sworn in as governors. Many in their speeches after being sworn in, promised to strengthen the economy and tackle corruption. This situation is expected to undermine efforts to pass the one-third women bill, which has been opposed by men for a long time.
Susan Kihika
Nakuru county’s former Senator is now the first woman elected as governor in the county.
She vied for the county’s Senatorial seat in 2017 which she won with 637,700 votes. Kihika who contested through the UDA party got 440,707 votes and defeated outgoing governor Lee Kinyanjui who got 325,623 votes.
Kihika is the third governor of Nakuru County, after Kinuthia Mbugua (1st) and Lee Kinyanjui.
Gladys Wanga
Gladys Wanga is also the first woman elected as governor in Homa Bay County.
Wanga who became governor through the ticket of presidential candidate Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), got 244,559 votes against her opponent Evans Kidero who was the first governor of Nairobi state who got 154,182 votes.
In 2017, Wanga was elected as the representative of women in the same county and later elected as the chairman of the budget committee in the national parliament.
Fatuma Achani
Fatuma Achani of the UDA party won the Kwale county governor’s seat by getting 59,674 votes and defeated Hamadi Boga of the ODM party who got 53, 972 votes.
Achani who is a lawyer has been the deputy governor of the county. Fatuma Achani has made history by being the first female governor in Kwale county as well as the first female governor from the Coast region.
Wavinya Ndeti
Wavinya Ndeti becomes the first female governor of Machakos county after competing for the seat for two consecutive years.
She passed with 226,609 votes in a fierce contest and defeated the former Head of Public Service in the Office of the President, Nzioka Waita who got 129,189 votes.
Wavinya resigned as an assistant minister earlier this year to run for the seat.
In 2007, Wavinya was elected as a Member of Parliament for Kathiani within the Uzalendo party.
After her victory, Wavinya becomes the only woman ever to represent a constituency since Kenya gained independence.
Cecily Mbarire
Cecily Mbarire was sworn in as governor of Embu county after getting 108,610 votes through the UDA party.
Mbarire defeated the outgoing senator of the county Lenny Kivuti of the DEP party who got 105,246 votes and the outgoing governor Martin Wambora who got 110,814 votes.
Mbarire was appointed as an elected member of parliament for special needs in the national Parliament and was supposed to be a Member of Parliament for Runyenjes.
In 2007, she contested through the PNU party and in 2013, retained her seat through The National Alliance (TNA) while previously being nominated by the NARC party.
Kawira Mwangaza
The former Woman Representative of Meru county, Kawira Mwangaza succeeded in defeating the previous Governor Kiraitu Murungi and Senator Mithika Linturi.
Mwangaza ran as an independent candidate and got 209,148 votes while Linturi was second with 183,859 votes and Kiraitu was last with 110,814 votes.
Anne Waiguru
Waiguru retained her seat after garnering 113,099 votes and beating her nearest rival who is the outgoing Woman Representative of the county, Purity Ngirici who got 105,677 votes.
In 2017, Waiguru served as the first Minister of Devolution and Planning in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government.
She also served as the first Deputy Chairman of the Governors Market between 2017 and 2019.