Kiambu woman rep's 'wondrous story' that online bullies nearly ruined
Kiambu Woman Representative Ann Wamuratha. She says Kenyan netizens are so cruel that they almost made her lose the seat in last year's election had she not developed a thick skin.
What you need to know:
- From losing her father when she was in Form Two, scraping through secondary school down on her luck, to getting employed as a receptionist earning Sh4,000 a month, Ann Wamuratha can only look back on the journey with pride.
- On her rise to the position of Kiambu woman representative, she says political campaigns are gruelling and not meant for the fainthearted.
Kiambu Woman Representative Ann Wamuratha beat the odds to win the seat in last year’s general election.It has been quite a journey, one full of hurdles, she tells Nation.Africa in an interview.
From losing her father when she was in Form Two, scraping through secondary school down on her luck, to getting employed as a receptionist earning only Sh4,000 a month, she can only look back with pride.
“A wondrous story,” she quips. “It would have sounded the weirdest of dreams if you had told me that I would be the woman you are speaking to. There is a God in heaven.”
Born on Kabati estate in Nakuru on January 14, 1971, young Wamuratha attended Naivasha DEB Primary School and proceeded to DN Handa Secondary in the same town. She is the third-born in a family of five – three boys and two girls.
“I grew up a noisemaker and class monitors would start with my name in the noisemakers’ list even when I was absent…That list was no list without my name and it was a matter of time before I started shaping up to be destined for mass media and politics,” she says.
By the time she was out of secondary school, she had mastered playing the guitar and decided to become a gospel musician. In 1995, she recorded her first song, which, however, did not penetrate the market.
“My childhood dream was to become a lawyer, but my Form Four performance trashed the calling. I was employed as a receptionist at Ufungamano House in Nairobi for a monthly salary of Sh4,000 out of which I paid Sh500 for rent.”
Training
After taking care of her transport and meals, she saved the rest to help her upskill and increase her job market value. She then enrolled for an accounts course and later studied marketing.
“On April 5, 1997, I got married at the age of 26 and my clergy husband—Bishop Francis Mugo of the Anglican Church of Kenya in the Mt Kenya Diocese—noted that my strength was talking. He financed me to enrol for a counselling course at the Kenya Institute of Professional Counsellors. I started doing gigs here and there for pay, ventured into motivational speaking and later settled on boy child advocacy,” she recalls.
Her career breakthrough was to come in 2015, when he attended a bride price ceremony in Thika and delivered a speech that was captured on video and posted online.
“I had urged mothers-in-law to be respectful of their sons’ wives. I told the mothers-in-law to always be cognisant of the fact that they, too, are strangers in those families they are married to, just like those married to their sons. I told them that the only difference between mothers-in-law and their daughters-in-law was age and the date they got married,” she says.
“I reminded mothers-in-law that if there came a law demanding that all strangers in a family leave, they would leave alongside their daughters-in-law as the men and the children are the only ones who can call those homesteads their original homes.”
The speech made her famous and prompted her to create social media accounts in 2015 in the hope of promoting her creative arts hustle. Once the footage was uploaded online, Wamuratha became so popular with churches and vernacular radio stations that her rates rose significantly. She was soon recruited by Inooro FM, where she featured on several family shows.
“This FM presence catapulted me into daring to dream about politics, a decision that thrust me into viciousness of campaigns and cruelty of netizens," she says.
She says political campaigns are gruelling. “All along, I had accomplished my mission of becoming a singer; I have several albums to my name. Today, I can say radio, church and online made me, but netizens nearly murdered my political destiny.”
She, however, adds that she has come to appreciate netizens for what they are—in search of drama and adventure—and pity her fellow politicians who cannot develop a thick skin to survive the onslaught.
To become a legislator, she first won the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) during the party’s nominations. Winning the ticket was as good as getting elected, given the party’s wave in the Mt Kenya region. However, she soon learnt that the race was not going to be a walk in the park.
Online attacks
“As a nominee, I was called by a local TV station to go and articulate what it meant for me and my vision for Kiambu County. I was excited and responded that because we were reeling from the effects of Covid-19 and going through an economic crunch, I was readying myself to address cases of mental challenges among my people,” she says.
But even before she could leave the station, critics were already on her case, causing her a nightmare. “Memes and posts were created, accusing me of saying Kiambu people were mad.”
She says she was shocked beyond words, especially when an old clip went viral online in which she was captured throwing bits of cake to those who had attended a thanksgiving ceremony in Ruiru Stadium in 2021. It was used to show just how “contemptuous l could get”.
Her goose appeared cooked “when graphics were made, cartoons drawn and more memes designed depicting me as a mad woman throwing bits of cake to my mad people and yet calling myself a leader”.
She says press releases were faked claiming that UDA had revoked her nomination and handed it over to another competitor.
“In panic, I called then-UDA’s digital campaigns coordinator Dennis Itumbi for advice. He told me my case was worse and I needed to apologise online. I posted an apology and my husband told me to stop killing myself over ‘petty issues’. My fellow UDA aspirants took over my case, defended me and the pressure subsided. That is the moment netizens nearly killed me.”
She says the agony she underwent as she battled for political survival “was graver than it was when I lost my father while in Form Two and my mother after I cleared my Form Four”.
“When I was declared the elected woman rep in Kiambu, knowing too well that I did not employ the 2,300 agents required and my campaign funds were limited, I only got a reason to praise the hallowed name of God for his mercies,” Ms Wamuratha says.
“The favour Kiambu people showed me is my driving force every day as I seek to reciprocate that love by serving them to the best standards possible.”
Her greatest regret in life is that her parents – Mr Esrom Njuguna and Ms Dorcas Nyokabi – died before they could witness her elevation to greatness.
Her advice to fellow leaders? “Let us give people hope that we will turn around this country and ease the cost of living. Let us stop dwelling too much on the past and cease hostilities against those we defeated. We must unite as a family, as a village, as a region and as a country, for us to tackle our challenges as a team,” she appeals.
