Rebecca Lolosoli: Why I ran against my husband for a political seat
Nominated MCA Rebecca Lolosoli, who in 2013 unsuccessfully ran against her husband for an MCA seat in Samburu County, during an interview in Maralal on August 21, 2024. She continues to participate in local politics.
What you need to know:
- Rebecca Lolosoli is currently a nominated MCA in the Samburu County Assembly and continues to champion women's rights.
- In 2017, she opted to upgrade and ran for Samburu East MP, a journey she says was also riddled with myriad challenges.
- After the 2022 General Election, she was nominated to the county assembly.
In the heart of Samburu County, a quiet revolution was brewing. The year was 2013, and Rebecca Lolosoli was about to shatter centuries-old traditions with a single, audacious act: running for political office against her own husband. She was contesting for the Waso Ward seat.
A woman challenging a man, more so her husband, was unheard of in the area at the time. It had never happened. The elders, fellow women and other locals were all mad at her for what they said was defying societal norms that put men on a higher pedestal than women.
However, Rebecca stood her ground and mounted a formidable campaign, keen to become the first woman member of the county assembly in Samburu.
“I crisscrossed the entire ward selling my manifesto. I stayed put despite numerous attempts to prevail upon me to step down. The community is still patriarchal and women who vie for political seats are cursed by elders,” Rebecca tells Nation.Africa in an interview in Maralal town.
When the elections were held, Rebecca, who ran on the Alliance Party of Kenya ticket, lost to her husband.
“I accepted the outcome and congratulated him and wished him well. I, however, still, up to this day, believe I was rigged out. My children voted for their father. My husband used to say I was a mad woman,” says Rebecca, who has since separated from her husband.
Her decision brought divisions in the family. All her children sided with their father. However, despite the falling-out during the campaigns, Rebecca later reconciled with her children. She says their relationship is now cordial.
Rebecca says she made the decision to run because she was the best-suited to champion issues touching on women and girls, including female genital mutation and child marriage, which were rife in the area. Samburu is one of the 22 FGM hotspot counties in the country.
In 2017 elections, Rebecca opted to upgrade and ran for Samburu East MP, a journey she says was also riddled with myriad challenges.
“I was told off by men who actually urged me to go and vie for the woman representative position, which is reserved for women. They said the MP seat was meant for men and I had no chance. I, however, stayed put to the end. Even if I did not win, I finished the race and proved that women can also do politics.”
She enumerates some of the challenges she faced on the campaign trail, among them limited financial resources. “The constituency is fast and one requires a lot of money for transport and effective campaigns. The perennial insecurity issue has also been a major challenge during the campaigns.”
Being a woman candidate, the races were not a bed of roses, she recalls. She lists gender discrimination perpetuated by outdated cultural beliefs as one of the major challenges that women grapple with.
Gender discrimination reared its head in the form of abusive language, both verbal and in social media, towards women candidates, she adds.
And even though she lost to her husband in 2013 and failed to capture the MP seat, Rebecca, who is currently a nominated MCA in Samburu, has no regrets.
She is a beneficiary of a project dubbed Expanding Spaces for Women Political Participation in Kenya, which is spearheaded by Uraia Trust with the support of UN Women and funded by Global Affairs Canada.
The project aims to enhance the capacities of women leaders, and create an enabling environment for them to engage in politics and governance freely and effectively.
Uraia Trust and UN Women create awareness of why it is important to involve women in political participation and leadership. Capacity building is instrumental in changing the mindsets and perceptions of men in patriarchal communities that resist women leadership. The initiative is being implemented in seven counties: Samburu, Kisii, Homa Bay, Embu Kericho, Wajir, and Kajiado.
Outgoing UN Women Country Representative Anna Mutavati says the project has enhanced women’s political participation. Anna notes that Kenya has made a lot of progress in coming up with laws that support women but women’s political participation remains the greatest challenge.
She observes the need for Parliament, political parties and other relevant bodies to support this cause. “By being more than half the population, women need to be at the decision-making table to inform inclusive budgeting and development.”
She notes that some of the reasons that make women shy away from offering their candidature is the expensive cost of Kenyan elections. “The biggest intervention that can be made is to put in place a law that caps election financing. The expensive elections in Kenya just distort the playing field and make women unable to compete fairly as they do not have the money.”
Janine Cocker, the Head of Development Cooperation at the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi, says Kenya has a progressive Constitution that supports gender equality. She terms the impact of the project impressive following the election of more women leaders in 2022.
“There has been an increase of women leadership at the national and county levels. We saw an increase of women governors from three in 2017 to seven in 2022, and an increase in the number of women MPs. We also have three women senators. A robust teamwork helped yield these wonderful results. Women need to be at the decision-making table.”
Samuel Lolkitekui, an elder in Samburu, agrees that culture has been a major hindrance to women’s political participation. He notes this has been a result of the deeply entrenched customs that relegate women to domestic work. However, the scenario is slowly changing and elders and the entire community are embracing women’s leadership.
“It is important to involve women in our community in leadership. They form part of the majority and it is unfair to sideline them. To ensure inclusive development, women need to be at the decision-making table.”
Samuel, a HeForShe champion, notes that the community cannot continue sidelining women if it wants to move forward. “I am happy to note that the people here, including men and elders, are embracing women’s leadership, which is a good move and sign going forward.”
John Leng’erded, the Uraia Trust Samburu County coordinator, says the project has built the capacity of women aspirants. He observes that things on the ground are encouraging and the community is slowly but surely accepting women’s leadership.
“The people here are realising that women can also make good leaders. We are more likely to see more women get into leadership positions.”
John has called on women with political ambitions not to shy away when elections are called.
And as our interview comes to a close, Rebecca has appealed to women to offer themselves for leadership positions in future elections. “Women’s leadership is good for the community as they are compassionate, merciful, caring and many of them are development-conscious.”
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She has further appealed to relevant stakeholders to address campaign financing, the elephant in the room for women seeking elective leadership positions.
Rebecca’s leadership journey started way back in the 1990s when she was elected to chair the Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organisation in Samburu for 10 years (1995 to 2005).
Besides being a budding politician, she has been a vocal women’s rights crusader, something that has seen her travel to the US for the Commission on the Status of Women conferences, and South Africa for training in women rights.
In 2005, before she travelled to the UN for a conference, Rebecca received death threats from local men over her stance on women's rights. Her activism saw her get feted.
In 2012, she received the GR8! Women Award for her commitment to women's rights. The title was awarded to her, along with 17 other women, in Dubai on March 7, 2012.
