Hooray! Githunguri MP here I come, affirms Wamuchomba

Gathoni Wamuchomba is eyeing the Githunguri parliamentary seat at the August 9, election.

The seat has never been held by a female, but she is confident of breaking the ceiling, promising to give her male rivals a run for their money. Githunguri is under Kiambu County, where she currently serves as woman representative.

How will she win the support of Githunguri residents? Ms Wamuchomba is relying on her track record at the county level.

She cites development projects under the National Government Affirmative Action Fund, from rehabilitating youths addicted to alcohol and drugs; distributing 230,000 chickens to households; buying eggs for needy children in four schools; to establishing a banana factory in Juja.

The Mamacare Addiction Recovery Centre, launched at Wangunyu by President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2018, has since rehabilitated more than 300 addicts. She has partnered with a college in Thika, where the reformed get technical skills to start life-sustaining careers.

“About 50 per cent of them have started businesses such as barbershops, butcheries and hotels,” she says in an interview at her Membley office in Ruiru.

The factory, she says, will make banana flour from tissue cultured green and ripe banana.

In 2018, she distributed 100,000 tissue culture banana seedlings to farmers in Gatundu South, Gatundu North, Githunguri, Ruiru and Kiambaa. They are already enjoying the harvests, she says.

Once it is commissioned, 1,500 farmers would directly benefit, she says. By January 18, when this interview was done, machines had been installed. The plant has a demonstration plot for training farmers.

Mamacare

Through Mamacare, a project that entails adult education dubbed Tusome and social protection scheme for the vulnerable, she has touched hundreds of lives.

Tusome enables men and women who dropped out of school to complete their primary and secondary education. It has enrolled at least 1,200 in the past four years. Beneficiaries are from Karuri, Kahawa Wendani, Mwiki, Ngecha, Gituamba, Kikuyu, Gitaru, Witeithie and Limuru East.

“So far, 57 young women have sat their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exam and 148 others Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exam.”

She says she has built houses for the poor in Kiambaa, Ruiru, Githunguri and Juja, and has brought them food and other basic necessities, including bedding. For those with a physical disability, she has provided assistive devices. With all these, “I have the capacity to do greater things as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Githunguri,” she says.

As chairperson of Kenya Women Parliamentary Association (Kewopa), a body that was in 2020, almost torn apart by Kieleweke and Tangatanga politics, Ms Wamuchomba has devoted to building sisterhood among the female legislators.

“I am that leader who will fight for another woman regardless of her political inclination,” she says.

She was one of the women leaders who protested in Thika town demanding an apology from preacher David Kariuki Ngari, alias Gakuyo, over his verbal attack on Emmah Wanjiku, a Jubilee-nominated member of the Kiambu County Assembly.

The directive by Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i to administrators and security agents to ensure the safety of female aspirants is encouraging, she says, adding that the government heard Kewopa’s call to support women aspirants.

She says her people want her to go for the governorship, but having considered her young family and being a doctorate student, she settled for the Githunguri MP seat.

“Governor’s seat is very demanding. I’ll not have time for my family and I’ll need to finish my PhD before I vie for the governor’s seat,” she says.

Balancing act

She has enrolled at the University of Nairobi’s African Women's Studies Centre, for the doctorate programme. She acquired Bachelor of Education and Master of Communication from the same university. “I really want to understand why women are always put on the edges,” she says.

“I’m an elected leader in Kiambu County, but my seat is always placed at the far end or behind whenever there are events, why?”
If elected, she hopes to pipe water to the villages and improve education. “It pains me that people in my village still fetch water from a river,” she notes.

“I feel sad when I visit my former primary school and meet a child who cannot afford school uniform or packed lunch. So, before I shine elsewhere, I must first change my village,” adds Ms Wamuchomba, who was born in Gathiroine village, Komothai, Githunguri.

She says vying for MP is allowing another woman to fill her current position, hence increasing the number of women in Parliament.

Passing the two-third gender law, for instance, can only happen if women MPs are the majority, she argues.

“Politics is a game of numbers. The only secret card women have to achieve two-third gender rule is to have as many women as possible in the National Assembly and the Senate.”

Until June last year, the legislator was a fierce supporter of Jubilee Party and the handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM Party leader Raila Odinga. Her defection to United Democratic Alliance (UDA) angered women in Kiambu who even demanded that she be stripped of her Kewopa post.

But in her defence, she says Jubilee “became a closed shop but retained the name and you can’t be in a closed shop as no customer will come to buy from you. Our voters moved on. I also had to move on”. She praises Deputy President William Ruto “for being gender-sensitive”.

She says their meetings end before 9 pm, and in case an issue emerges past the time, he would rather have a virtual meeting or message it.

Gender hurdles

“He is a gentleman and understands that there are women in his camp who have other domestic responsibilities. He allows women to feel part of his team,” she says.

But to win, she has to deal with cultural stereotypes that still make people see her as “just a woman” and not a leader. Ms Wamuchomba says her popularity at the grassroots and track record of development will work to her advantage. “Even in my absence, my people can tell you what I have done for them.”

In 2020, she sponsored an amendment to the Sexual Offences Act to strengthen collection and storage of sexual assault evidence through a sexual assault forensic evidence tracking system. It, however, never made it past the first reading stage.

She was also behind the Geriatric Bill, 2021, which provides for creation of the National Council for Older Members of Society to lead in providing care, protection, and empowerment of the elderly.

She says she may not have much money, but through the gift of the gab, she will galvanise support and “Hooray! Githunguri MP here I come,” she concludes.

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