Insiders’ accounts of Kenya’s oldest women organisation

Over the phone, Ms Zipporah Kittony tells the guard to let us through the gate.

We are headed for a morning interview at her Nairobi home. The 79-year-old hardly stays here as she is mostly at her farm in Kitale, where she rears dairy cows and farms tea, coffee and macadamia. But she is in town for a number of tasks, among them the launch of her biography.

The Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organisation, which she chaired between 1996 and 2006, is 70 years old this year. We are eager to hear stories of her experiences during the times when the organisation – which currently has four million members, according to its leadership – was perhaps at its most visible.

By the time we part company with Ms Kittony and visit the organisation’s headquarters in Maendeleo House to talk to the current chair Rahab Muiu, we have a truckload of stories.

One of them is about the day she entered Parliament in trousers and sparked a heated debate. Back then, she had not yet become the chairperson of the group. She was the organisation’s district chairperson for Trans Nzoia district when President Daniel arap Moi nominated her to Parliament in 1988.

Wearing trousers

In the early 1990s, she once entered the chambers wearing trousers – something that was back then unheard of for a woman MP. There were only nine women in Parliament then.

“One of the members of Parliament rose and said, ‘Mr Speaker, is Hon Zipporah Kittony in order to come into the August House wearing trousers?’” recalls Ms Kittony.

“It was a very hot debate. I wanted to lose my temper but I realised it wasn’t helping me,” she says.

“They said so many things but eventually, Hon [Francis ole] Kaparo, the Speaker then, said, ‘Yes, she’s in order.’ From then on, women have been wearing trousers like anybody else.”

Some members had argued that a woman in trousers was a security threat because she could have been carrying guns in the pockets, but she argued that men too were donning trousers which had many pockets.

She also recalls that a ban on handbags in the chamber had to be challenged at some point.

“We had to raise a question in the House. We said, ‘Men are carrying pockets all over, for instance in their undercoats. How do you know that they are not carrying guns?’” recalls Ms Kittony.

“Now, that one is abolished; women are now carrying handbags,” says Ms Kittony, who was also in the legislative chambers between 2013 and 2017, after being nominated as a senator by Kanu.

“So, we fought a long war along the way.”

It was during Ms Kittony’s tenure as the Maendeleo chairperson that the organisation secured a number of properties across Kenya.

“Under the leadership of Senator Kittony, Maendeleo got a lot of limelight and worked very closely with the government. Maendeleo got almost 24 pieces of land across 24 counties through President Moi,” reads a document from the organisation.

The piece of land where the organisation’s head office sits along Loita Street was given to them by President Jomo Kenyatta. According to Ms Muiu, the current chair, this happened when Ms Jane Kiano was the national chair.

“Her husband was a Cabinet minister and that came with some advantages,” says Ms Muiu, noting that Ms Kiano’s stay at the helm lasted between 1971 and 1984.

After Mzee Kenyatta gave them the land, they held fundraisers to finance the construction of the 10-storey Maendeleo House, whose main tenant today is Goethe Institut. Every Maendeleo member across the country contributed Sh2 to the cause. The building was officially opened in 1980.

Rich organisation

With the building in Nairobi and assets across the country, Maendeleo is a rich organisation by all standards, but Ms Muiu notes that not all the properties are in their custody. Baker Tilly and Merali auditors, she notes, are currently preparing a report on the status of the assets.

“Some have been taken,” she says. “We are getting back some; like we got back the one in Kakamega and another in Mombasa. We are in the process of recovering all these properties; so the Ministry of Lands was given a directive by the Attorney -General to help recover the 24 properties.”

The property the organisation owns in Mombasa, Ms Muiu says, will soon see the construction of a building that will house a hospital and a gender-based violence recovery centre. President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to do the ground-breaking.

But the assets are not the only achievement of Maendeleo. Ms Kittony says through its advocacy programmes, the organisation has helped propel the Kenyan woman to greater heights.

Female genital mutilation

“Our role has been felt and women have been recognised and now we are walking on equal pace, equal terms. No more discrimination. And a lot of issues have been handled, like the elimination of female genital mutilation. That is a role that Maendeleo played,” says Mrs Kittony.

When it was first started, Maendeleo was mostly concerned with teaching Kenyan women “modern” ways of housekeeping.

Started in 1952 during the colonial period, its first president was Nancy Shepherd, then the principal of Jeanes School, currently the Kenya Institute of Administration. Lady Mary Baring, the wife of Governor Evelyn Baring, was also in the founding team.

One of the initial mandates was to teach women about the latest food preparation techniques.

“Women clubs were set up countrywide to introduce African women to Western and ‘modern’ techniques of food preparation, cleaning and childcare,” says a document on Maendeleo’s history.

Ms Muiu notes: “In the first decade, a lot of work was concentrated on home science.”

Ms Kittony says the objective was achieved.

“We have made gains through Maendeleo especially in terms of well-brought-up families, in terms of providing better nutrition to families. That was basically the initial stages: to teach the women better home care, to provide better nutrition and to teach women to knit and to sew,” she says.

But home-making isn’t all that the society has been minding. From its very start, Maendeleo was joined at the hip with the country’s political landscape. The first African chair of the organisation was Phoebe Asiyo, who was at the helm between 1958 and 1961.

“Its chequered history includes allegations of its use by colonial authorities to subvert the freedom struggle,” reads the document.

Maendeleo’s policy is to align with the government of the day and that is why Ms Muiu, the current chair, is unapologetically allied to the Jubilee Party.  In our interview, she said Maendeleo is backing ODM leader Raila Odinga’s presidential bid, just as President Uhuru Kenyatta has done. In the 2017 elections, Maendeleo was in the same camp as First Lady Margaret Kenyatta.

Kanu life member

Ms Kittony says she is a Kanu member for life.

“I cannot change my party now; it’s too late,” says Ms Kittony.

In fact, during Mr Moi’s regime, there was a time when Maendeleo was annexed by Kanu and became the Kanu Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organisation. That was in 1987.

“This period is referred to as the dark era of the organisation in Maendeleo circles,” says the organisation’s history document.

A number of donors withdrew from Maendeleo when Kanu took charge but after a while it disentangled itself from the then ruling party. Today, it is registered as a non-governmental organisation.

But the organisation’s role in the country’s political landscape cannot be missed. Besides Ms Kittony, who has been nominated to Parliament twice, a number of women leaders have been Maendeleo leaders before.

As many as 49 women who were nominated to various county assemblies after the 2017 General Election are Maendeleo members. In addition, a number of elected leaders have been with Maendeleo in various capacities.

Ms Muiu lists governors Anne Waiguru (Kirinyaga), Charity Ngilu (Kitui) and the late Joyce Laboso, who died while in office as the Bomet governor, as Maendeleo affiliates.

“Ms Ngilu was a leader of Maendeleo before she became a Member of Parliament. There is also Senator Margaret Kamar, who was a provincial chairperson in Rift Valley in the 1990s,” says Ms Muiu.

MPs in the current Parliament session who are affiliated to Maendeleo include Kandara MP Alice Wahome, Kabondo Kasipul MP Eve Obara and Samburu Woman Rep Maison Leshoomo.

Asked for her opinion on Maendeleo’s involvement in politics, Ms Kittony retorts: “What is wrong with politics? To me, there is nothing wrong with politics. Politics is part of our daily routine. We cannot do without politics,” she says.

The current chairperson says that in fact, political muscle is one of the empowerment tools Maendeleo gives women.

“Maendeleo works on three pillars: economic, social and political. That’s where the political feature comes in,” says Ms Muiu.

While Ms Kittony and Ms Muiu agree that women representation is significant today, they would love to see more.

“We ask for more, because the real voters are the women,” says Ms Muiu.

“We look forward to more positions for women. But we also thank President Uhuru Kenyatta for bringing in more women in the Cabinet and in some very senior dockets,” she adds.

The strongest actions ever taken by Maendeleo include taking 500 women to the famous Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China in 1995. Ms Kittony was there.

“That is when the 12 critical areas of concern were addressed; that is health, education, name it,” she says.

Says a document from Maendeleo: “Together, the women created the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the most comprehensive agenda to date on gender equality and women’s empowerment.”

The road to Maendeleo’s future is paved with lofty dreams and strong ambitions.

Ms Muiu hopes to see the Mombasa centre launched during her tenure as chair.

Build GBV centres

She also wishes to have the 24 plots belonging to Maendeleo used to construct gender-based violence centres.

Membership is voluntary at the moment, meaning that unless you serve in the national leadership team, you spend your own resources when you take part in Maendeleo’s activities.

The chairperson’s position is elective and elections are held every five years.

Ms Muiu hopes that with more income-generating activities like the planned Mombasa hospital, there will be surplus money to be sent to regions.

Maendeleo also plans to be more mindful of the boy child in the coming years.

“The boy child cannot be left behind,” says Ms Muiu. “We are saying the boy child has done this and that, but what are we doing to help them?”

Creating transparent and auditable records is an undertaking the current leadership is keen on.

There are also plans for a Sacco or a bank for women and revival of some cooking lessons.

“It is important to do home science. The food we pick over the counter is not safe food for children and even for families,” says Ms Muiu.

As Maendeleo celebrates 70 years, Ms Muiu admits that the organisation has not always been as visible as it has been known to be.

“There are times when we’ve had highs; there are times when we had lows, depending on the leadership,” she says. “But Maendeleo has gone through the test of time.”

Ms Muiu, 65, joined Maendeleo in 1983.

Her mother was a member and she recommended the move. She says a number of current members also joined because of their mothers.

Currently, a woman above 18 can join as a member by paying a life membership fee or annual fee.

Ms Kittony, on the other hand, joined Maendeleo after interacting with its members at a conference abroad.

“When I became chair, I think I made more impact for the successes and the stage at which I took the women of Kenya because I worked very closely with the government and women’s issues were being addressed,” says Ms Kittony.

At Ms Kittony’s home, she is uneasy because she has another engagement to rush to. But she is sure to leave some advice to the current crop of women leaders.

“Carry yourselves with dignity and decorum so that you are able to get what you’re looking for,” she advises.

“I thank God also for the journey that I have taken. I have been in leadership and I am happy that I’ve not been controversial but my work has been felt. So, I want to tell women: you need not be controversial for your impact to be felt,” adds Ms Kittony.

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