Fury as only one woman makes it to Governor Nyong'o's Cabinet

Kisumu Governor Anyang' Nyong'o. He has come under harsh criticism for appointing only one female to his first batch of cabinet list.

Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group.

Residents of Kisumu have expressed disappointment with Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o after he picked seven of the 10-member County Executive Committee (CEC).

Prof Nyong’o on Saturday released a list of seven nominees to the CEC, with only one woman on it.

While he is yet to name the remaining three, some residents have proposed that the positions go to women.

Governor Nyong’o’s selections suggest that he could not find more women capable of heading the county’s departments, said Civil Society Organisations Network team leader Betty Okero.

“It is very unfortunate when we are told not to make noise because we still have vacant positions. The governor is trying to tell us he did not find any capable lady and needs more time to pick one, which is the wrong impression,” said Ms Okero, a governance expert.

Rather than choosing men who are already heading various dockets, she said, the governor should have picked women to lead the vacant dockets.

Ms Okero did not see any sense in choosing men to head two different departments when there are capable women to take those roles.

She said Prof Nyong’o “must show that he is serious in the gender conversation. While we are focused on the [CEC] nominees, the gender factor is also still a big issue [in the selection of] county directors …”

She added that “we cannot say we could not get more women when the county did not advertise these positions and instead relied on handpicking, which may be affected by favouritism”.

Residents also took to the governor’s social media pages and called the new cabinet male-dominated.

“I totally disagree with the governor on this, this is the biggest insult to women of Kisumu County, please respect the rule of thirds,” said one resident.

Call for MCAs to reject the list

They argued that the governor appeared to be saying that women are incapable of serving as members of his cabinet.

Calling the governor’s action gender-insensitive, they urged MCAs to reject the nominees until Prof Nyong’o considers gender equity.

The two-thirds gender law “is still in force, we need at least three women including a youth representative too,” said another.

Prof Nyong’o sacked three CEC members on October 8 and unveiled seven names of people he wants to serve in his second-term administration.

He dismissed Achi Alai (Tourism, Sports and Culture), Gilchrist Okuom (Agriculture, Irrigation, Livestock and Fisheries), and Dixon Obungu (Trade, Energy and Industrialisation).

Some of the nominated CEC members are Kennedy Hongo (Lands, Physical Planning, Housing and Urban Development), Ken Onyango (Agriculture, Fisheries, Livestock Development and Irrigation) and Farida Salim (Trade and Marketing). Ms Salim is a former Roads CEC member and the only woman in the Cabinet.

The dockets still to be filled are Water, Environment and Natural Resources; Public Service and County Administration; and Sports, Culture and Arts.

Reacting to residents’ comments, county spokesperson John Oywa said they should not worry as there are still slots to be filled.

A source in the county government said the governor had reserved some of the vacant positions for women.