Janet Sitienei: Resilience led to my victory after 2013 loss
Turbo MP Janet Sitienei.
What you need to know:
After failing twice in elections, Janet Sitienei won Turbo Constituency as an independent, later re-elected on the UDA ticket, overcoming significant challenges.
Janet Sitienei’s political journey involved early setbacks, cultural biases, and financial barriers, but her community focus and perseverance led to her success.
In 2012 after long service in public service, Janet Sitienei decided to resign from her job as a district extension officer in Bungoma and try her luck in politics. Having established a good social capital in her community, she felt her life in politics would pay off dividends.
The 2013 election was the turning point in her political career. She joined the United Republican Party (URP) as a political party of choice to contest for the Turbo seat. Unfortunately, she lost with only 200 votes to the eventual winner in an election she says was marred by irregularities.
“I decided to decamp to the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc), but the die had already been cast. The seat was previously held by President William Ruto, who had quit as required by law, to vie as a running mate for retired President Uhuru Kenyatta.”
Then her competitors started referencing culture and traditions, arguing these norms did not permit a woman to inherit such a seat.
“Cultural perceptions that a woman could not replace a politician of Dr Ruto’s stature garnered a lot of currency ahead of the 2013 General Election, and, therefore, my political aspirations at the time were consigned to oblivion.”
After the loss in the election, she tried to secure a job without much success. She went into farming, using the knowledge she gained while pursuing a degree in agriculture, nutrition and dietetics from Egerton University. But in 2015, Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago appointed her as his political adviser.
“This position was godsend. I helped the governor to successfully implement his development agenda, in the process ensuring a myriad of challenges facing the people were addressed,” she says.
“I was also able to interact with different people and sharpen my leadership skills. I built strong political networks and aggressively made inroads at the grassroots and with the community, which helped to propel me again into the political limelight.”
By 2016, she was enjoying visibility and political networks. She started readying herself for the 2017 election. “In 2017, I had a strong feeling that I was ready to leave my footprints in Turbo Constituency. I quit my job and plunged again into the hotly contested race.”
Again, things did not work in her favour. She lost in the Jubilee Party nomination.
“Turbo Constituency comprises both cosmopolitan and rural populations. The majority of us, contestants, were competing for the rural vote and therefore, the Jubilee ticket was won by the candidate banking on the cosmopolitan vote.”
Sitenei had to quickly change tack. She applied to vie as an independent, knowing well the masses were on her side. The decision was the best she had ever made. She recorded a resounding win in the general election as the MP for Turbo.
“I could not believe it after I beat the party’s candidate with an overwhelming majority of the votes cast.”
Her win left many people bewildered. “The truth is that the victory did not come easy. I went against the political grain. I did not have enough money to wield a strong campaign and neither did I have the backing of any political party.”
She says without support from any quarter, she banked her hopes on God, her savings, and contributions from friends and family. How did she do it? Sitenei says her win was mainly as result of investing so much in her community and winning the hearts of her constituents who were ready to support her on whichever political outfit she chose.
“I respect the people and they respect me too. They saw a lot of hope and trust in me.”
Indeed, Sitenei has ensured that while serving as MP she is accessible for the people and uses public funds prudently to transform their lives.
As 2022 neared, she grew so strong politically that every politician wanted to identify with her. It, therefore, did not come as a surprise when she won the 2022 General Election on the UDA ticket, the most popular party in her constituency.
Sitenei strongly believes her development record and vying for a political party that was popular in her area contributed heavily to her re-election. She had initiated many projects, many of which were completed during her first term.
She says the electorate also gave her overwhelming support because of her open-door policy as she did not discriminate against anyone. They openly praised her for interacting with everyone, regardless of their status, a trait that endeared her most to the voters.
She also planned well. “I conducted a well-coordinated campaign and delivered the right messages to voters. It was tough but better.”
Nevertheless, her political journey and the wins came with a share of problems. She depleted her savings during the 2017 campaigns and had to fight strong party machinery that wanted its candidate to win. Financing political campaigns remained a major barrier to her parliamentary quest.
“In 2013, for instance, I registered twice to get a party ticket. I first contested for the URP ticket and when I lost, I moved to Narc and paid additional money as registration fee. This is gruesome for women who largely depend on family and friends to raise money for their campaign kitty.”
The other challenge was gender bias. When she first vied, not many women were running for political office, and voters had not tested being led by a woman, hence convincing them to vote for her was difficult.
“Gender norms still influence voters' thinking as they strongly feel the governor, MP and senator positions belong to men, while women should compete for the woman representative seat.”
Verbal violence and bribery, too, were used to dissuade her from vying. She recalls being insulted, especially in her opponents’ stronghold. “Politics is not for the faint-hearted. There was mudslinging, voter buying and backstabbing that I encountered.”
Her more than 10 years in politics have also provided her with useful lessons, a resource to her and other women. To win an election, she learnt: “One must have a sound work plan, do the groundwork well, and continuously interact with the people to have them know and believe in you. One must also have the necessary resources and start the campaign journey slowly but early.”
Sitenei notes that while resources are essentials, skills on how to articulate issues in Parliament are critical to help women sustain their visibility, relevance, popularity and future wins.
“We need to support nominated women MCAs and strengthen their skills because currently, only a few are able to transition to elective politics. We also need to develop winning strategies for women.”
One such strategy is the need to help women who are already in politics to flourish. She notes that if a person’s analyses the past elections, there’s a trend of losing women who had previously won elections.
“We need to work towards sustaining the seats held by women in Parliament so that we do not gain one and lose two, and look for more. If we keep losing and gaining, it will be difficult to attain the required gender threshold.”
For her, the future is bright. “Society has now realised that there is good leadership in women because they are transparent, honest and capable of bringing change.”
AWC Feature Service
