Susan Wanjiru seeks to become first female MCA in Nakuru Town East

Susan Wanjiru

Susan Wanjiru who is seeking to become the first woman to be elected Nakuru East Ward representative in the August 9 polls.

Photo credit: Francis Mureithi | Nation Media Group

Since the advent of devolution in 2013, all the five wards that form the Nakuru Town East constituency have been dominated by male representatives.  

The five wards that have never had a woman Member of the County Assembly (MCA) leaders include Biashara, Kivumbini, Flamingo, Menengai and Nakuru East.

The last woman to be elected in the cosmopolitan constituency was Risper Atieno Ouma who beat a crowded male field to win the Kivumbini Ward civic race in the 2008 elections that marked the end of the defunct Nakuru Town Municipal Council.

However, the male domination may end if Susan Wanjiru wins the Nakuru East Ward race in the August 9 polls.

Ms Wanjiru, 31, of Amani National Congress is vying on a Kenya Kwanza Coalition ticket in a ward where Deputy President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) is popular.

Ms Wanjiru, popularly known as "Ciru Genesis", is confident that this time around, the more than 27,000 registered voters according to Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) 2017, data will vote in a female ward rep.

"I was born and bred in Nakuru Town East. I went to Lion Hills Primary School and later joined Lanet Secondary School. I know what ails Nakuru East Ward," said Ms Wanjiru.

She said despite being just seven kilometres from Nakuru City centre, Nakuru East Ward is still underdeveloped, a fact she blamed this on bad leadership.

"Nakuru East Ward has no sewer lines. It has an acute shortage of Early Childhood Development Education classes despite an ever increasing population of children,” she said.

Other issues facing the densely populated ward are lack of infrastructures like roads, street lights and unemployment among the youths.  

"Nakuru East Ward needs youthful leadership. For many years the ward has been led by "oldies" who have neglected the youth and that is why I have offered myself in the August 9 polls," she said.

 She added: “So many youthful people in Nakuru East Ward are lost in drugs and alcohol abuse."  

She said the ward has been hit hard in the past by political violence that led to bloody conflicts, forcing many residents to flee the area as witnessed in the 2007/2008 post-election violence.