What I learnt from being first top UoN female student leader 

Before 2019, the name Anne Mwangi Mvurya was virtually unknown beyond the University of Nairobi’s premises. But when she became the institution’s first female student leader, she instantly shot to fame, featuring regularly on mainstream and social media for her political activities and controversies.

A third-year law student then, she garnered thrice as much votes as her main opponent, Samuel Ayoma, defeating male opponents for the coveted University of Nairobi Students Association (UNSA) leadership.

The signing into law of the Universities Amendment Bill in 2016 by President Uhuru Kenyatta introduced the delegate system of elections in universities, where the students’ association had to constitute itself into electoral colleges based on either academic departments, schools or faculties.

Those elected in leadership positions, according to the Act, had to reflect national diversity, and the council cot have more than two-thirds of its members being of the same gender.

Further, the students’ association, the Act dictated, was to be governed by a student council comprising a chairperson and a vice-chairperson, who must be of the opposite gender, a treasurer, a secretary-general, and three other members to represent special interests of students.

It is during the round of the delegate election at the UoN that Ms Mvurya gave it a try and emerged victorious, becoming the first female president of the student body at the institution, and breaking the jinx of gender impasse in student leadership.

However, with the limelight comes its share of downsides. Once an individual becomes a public figure, she says, one’s life becomes an open book.

“One morning you wake up to trolls on social media. Another, you wake up to find yourself trending for reasons that most of the time are never true,” she says.

The position held, the Act dictated, is a one-time non-renewable chance hence making it highly coveted. Student association presidents, by the virtue of the office they hold, sit in the university senate meetings. They represent the students’ voice to the administration.

Being a students’ council president inched her closest to the powers that be –both within the university and nationally. To her, it opened many doors and closed some.

“I strived to strike an equilibrium, which sometimes worked or failed especially when it entailed bulldozing my way. I, however, prayed often and asked God to lead me into doing what is right for my peers.”

Student politics and national politics, buoyed by the delegate voting system in the university, Anne thinks, is intertwined. In the same breath, she prescribes “peaceful” demonstration as “alternative means to solving the constant fee hikes in universities”, likening it to a national standoff that only the streets would have solved “once dialogue fails”.

“We do not live in a bubble. What affects young people affects everybody,” she says. “If there is a tax hike today , it will affect a student who boards a matatu to and from home to school the same way it will affect someone who owns bank accounts. This underscores the need to work together in order to ensure that all people are represented the best way we can.”

“Various issues need to be addressed differently. You always have to try dialogue and peaceful means…If dialogue fails, then it is not wrong to take to the streets. It is supported by the Constitution.”

The delegate system of representation has seen a new crop of student leaders mushroom. It has seen the rise of cultured, tamed student politics rise, and critics have argued it is a blessing in disguise. But Anne thinks otherwise.

“You see, previously student leaders used to campaign and meet the electorate in person, and their first loyalty would be to them. These days, it is the delegates who get to listen to the vying student association presidents’ manifestos and vote for them. Inasmuch as it has eliminated the touch our predecessors had with the students who directly elected them, it has given students a chance to be led by goal-oriented individuals and not goons,” she says.

According to Anne, joining university is momentous for any student. It comes with excitement, a bundle of ‘freedom’ and a great deal of relief, particularly after the pressure to excel in academics and other co-curricular activities that characterise the final year of secondary school. But living the experience all together is a different ballgame that students, more so newbies, grapple with.

Leading such diverse folks, she says, means being innovative and courageous enough to empower them and show them the way. 

“For my case, I came up with Adopt a Room project, where I was asking the alumni of the university to adopt a room that they stayed in now that they are considerably successful in life,” she says. “This model saw alumni to support the occupants of these rooms, in a way, cushioning the students from the extremes of financial constraints.”

Anne’s predecessors were firebrand, or so they are remembered. But her model of leadership, she says, “was different: I had an open door policy and solution-oriented leadership.”

But how was it like filling such shoes? “It was humbling, because, not many get such a prestigious chance” she says. “And it demanded a lot of courage to walk in them.”

“Of course, my leadership could not be the same as my predecessor or my successor.”

“We were in different times: My predecessor ruled before the delegate system, and my successor ruled in the times of the pandemic. Clearly, what works for either of us couldn’t work for another,” she adds.

“But did I do well? Yes, I think I did very well in regards to what was on the table.”

How would she rate her tenure?

“In a scale of one to 10, I give myself 10 because I delivered on all my manifestos,” she says.

Her ascent to the top leadership position was characterised by claims of rigged elections and the source of her funding was questioned, with the grapevine claims that Nairobi-based politicians funded her. Some even claimed she was a project of the institution. But she says the finances were crowd-sourced through harambees and that she wasn’t a project of anyone.

“While my dream was supported by many people, the students were able to donate Sh20 or even Sh30 to my political cause.”

If anything, Anne came, she saw, and conquered. In retrospect, she says “it seemed like a Herculean task until I pulled it off”.

“It was unbelievable,” she said of her tenure and her experience at the helm.

“Leading my peers groomed me to be the leader I want to be in future. I realised I have a soft spot for children and education. And now I have known how it feels like to lobby for a common cause. This will enable me to be a better leader in the capacity that I hope to be able to get in the coming months.”

And the “break” she took was much needed, she says. Upon the lapse of her tenure, she slowly faded from firebrand politics. In her hibernation days, there were rumours that she was expecting a baby, which she now confirms to Lifestyle was just that.

“No. I’m not expectant,” she clarifies. "I only took some time off so as to concentrate on my studies. I have now finished my degree in law and will be graduating in December this year.”

Part of the period she has been mute, she jetted out of the country “to replenish”.

“I’m currently in the US but I will be coming home in a few weeks’ time with two missions. First, to graduate and second, to dip my feet into national politics,” she offers, adding that she intends to vie for a parliamentary seat in Nairobi County in the upcoming polls.

She, however, remains tight-lipped on the particular constituency. Her party of choice, as well, is still a mystery.

"The best I can say is that I will be vying in Nairobi. I don't want to jump the gun and disclose yet we are in the process of launching the campaign," she tells Lifestyle.

Leadership is a give-and-take situation, Anne says, “It taught me that it sometimes goes with a huge chunk of the sense of privacy of one’s life.” 

Either way, she says, "When you are a leader, you are a leader because you can. Your personal life does not impede you in any way."

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