Women in Nyeri shy away from August polls battle
Nyeri County IEBC returning officer Anastasia Nduku. She said only 10 percent of 336 candidates vying for various seats in the county on August 9 are women.
Women in Nyeri County have shied away from contesting political seats, with the latest data from the electoral agency showing that of the 336 candidates cleared to run on August 9, only about 10 percent were female.
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) county returning officer Anastasia Nduku said 53 candidates were cleared to run for MP seats and of these only five are women. There are six constituencies in Nyeri.
Four candidates were cleared for the governor’s seat, and they are all men. The IEBC has also given the greenlight to five candidates to run for the Senate seat, including two women, one sponsored by a political party and the other running as an independent.
Meanwhile, county assembly seats attracted 265 candidates, out of whom 39 women were cleared, about 15 percent.
Nobel laureate
Since independence, only three women from Nyeri have been elected MP. They are the late environmentalist and Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai, who represented Tetu constituency between January 2003 and November 2007. She was also assistant minister for environment and natural resources in President Mwai Kibaki’s administration.
The other is Ms Esther Murugi, elected to represent Nyeri Town constituency under the Party of National Unity (PNU) in 2007. Ms Murugi retained the seat in 2013 under The National Alliance (TNA) party. She made history by becoming the first person ever to retain the Nyeri Town parliamentary seat.
Ms Mary Wambui Munene, the Othaya businesswoman who caused a major storm in the corridors of State House during the Kibaki administration, was elected to the 11th Parliament under TNA in 2013 and served one term. At one point, the late President was forced to go live on national television to emphasise he had only one wife after speculation that he was romantically involved with Ms Wambui.
The outgoing Nyeri County Assembly has 14 women members, three of them elected and 12 nominated.
The data also shows that of the 336 candidates cleared by the IEBC, 149 are running as independents. Mathira constituency has the highest number of MCA candidates, 34, who are contesting six ward seats.
