Alicen Chelaite was busy going about her secretarial work at Egerton University in the late 1970s when a delegation visited her with a rare message.
The delegation told Alicen that former president, the late Daniel arap Moi wanted to nominate her as a councillor in Nakuru Municipality.
Mzee Moi may have noticed her leadership skills when she lived in his house before proceeding for a secretarial course and true to his plans, he nominated her as a councillor in 1978.
On noticing her excellent work, another delegation from Ward 16 in Nakuru, the current day Kwa Rhonda Ward went to her once again to request that she vies in the 1984 general elections and represent them at the Nakuru Municipality Council.
“I was at the peak of my career at 40years of age having worked in both public and private sectors and it had never occurred to me that members of the majorly patriarchal Kalenjin community would ask me to lead them,” she said.
Speaking at her retirement home in Ngata area of Rongai sub county, Alicen said she accepted the invitation to lead after wide consultations with family and friends.
“There was no need for extensive consultations in my first stint as a councillor because it was a nomination, I did not have to through the gruelling route of campaigns and endless meetings,” she notes.
She said despite the goodwill of the elders to vie, she still faced hardships because it was not common place for women to plunge into political contests.
The elderly woman still shudders at the thought of the verbal insults hurled at her during the campaigns and cannot utter some of them.
She was not spared from the discrimination and marginalisation women face in politics.
She recalls that her political opponents at the time made scathing remarks about her marital status, personality and associations during the campaigns with unprintable insults being hurled at her.
“It takes courage for a woman to vie for any political seat, the verbal insults are worse than physical violence because they touch on one’s character, family and other associations and the damages caused are irreparable.”
She withstood the heat and became the longest serving councillor for Kwa Rhonda Ward and went on to become the first female mayor of the cosmopolitan municipality in 1996.
Buoyed by her success as a civic leader, the veteran politician vied for the Nakuru Town parliamentary seat in 1997 and lost the Kanu party primaries.
She claims that late President Daniel Moi who was also the Kanu life chairman favoured male candidates she ran against.
“The former President was like a father to me, I lived in his house with his children, he was a family friend and there was no way I could have gone against him, it is against African culture,” she stated.
Alicen, the pioneer of women in political leadership in Nakuru was once again approached by elders from Rongai in 2002, five years after her failed attempt in Nakuru Town and she won the seat.
She went on to be rated the second best in management of Constituency Development Fund in the country during her tenure.
Alicen left politics on her own volition after finishing her parliamentary term in 2007.
Her resilience did not go in vain as so many women have followed in her path among them Naivasha MP Jayne Kihara who joined politics in 2003 after the demise of her husband Paul Kihara.
For the longest time, she was the sole female parliamentarian in the populous Nakuru County, with several losses along the way until the 2017 General elections when five women, including the Woman Representatives were elected to parliament.
These are; Senator Susan Kihika who is also gunning for the Nakuru gubernatorial seat in the August 9 polls, Naivasha MP Jayne Kihara, Martha Wangari (Gilgil), Charity Kathambi (Njoro) and Woman Rep (Liza Chelule).
Image: LOISE MACHARIA
Several decades later, the journey for these women has not been easier, it is getting even harder with the increased platforms for slander and propaganda that includes the use of expletives.
Bahati Parliamentary aspirant, Irene Njoki says being the only woman in the race for the seat, her male counterparts have been hurling insults some referring to her womanhood.
“I was born and brought up in Bahati but now that I want to vie for a leadership position, people want to investigate my marital status, my age and even my associations all which do not apply when it comes to my male counterparts,” she said.
Njoki adds that intimidation is another tool used to scare away women citing two cases where she had to relocate her event after her opponents hired people to stop her team from accessing the venue.
On whether there are structural barriers in political parties barring women participation in politics, Njoki says she had not encountered any.
“Our predecessors like Alicen made it when there were no laws supporting gender balance. We are following in their footsteps to take the leadership reigns and better the communities.”
Aspirant for Njoro ward representative, Nyambura Minjire says the most common challenge women politicians encounter is cultural barrier because of the patriarchal nature of the Kenyan society.
She observes that lack finances to fund their campaigns is another major hindrance to women as they are often constrained to move around or even organise meetings with prospective voters.
“Most women do not own property therefore one cannot even access bank loans because they do not have collateral,” she added.
Minjire noted that politics in Kenya is not issue-based thereby giving men room to attack women based on gender, families and even appearance.
A community leader in Rongai, Samuel Kitur said the tribulations that pioneer woman leaders went through to get a position in the decision making table are the same challenges female political aspirants are going through a decade later.
He wonders why progressive women who venture into politics still have to go through torture and trauma despite Kenya having an affirmative constitution.
“It was during her tenure that CDF was enacted and she used the money prudently for development projects and school fees bursary that have impacted lives to date,” he said.
His sentiments were echoed by John Mukiri who said women were more sensitive to the issues that affected communities at the lowest levels.
Mukiri said that it was unfortunate that Kenya was going to the third general elections since the promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 without measures to ensure the two third gender rule is implemented.
MidRift Human Rights Network Executive Director, Joseph Omondi insisted the playing ground is not level for women because Kenyan politics is about who has money to induce voters.
He notes that in the 2010 constitution, there were certain clauses about how hygienic politics should be conducted which is being resisted by the male leaders.
He observed that men result in using un-orthodox means to slow the campaigns of their female counterparts such as violence and propaganda.
“Male opponents, their supporters and even the community want to dig into the marital status of women aspirants, their associations and such things yet men are celebrated when they engage in certain vices,” he said.
He reiterated the need to inculcate a culture for women to have their rights to associate, participate, seek political office and decide political choices as enshrined in the constitution.
“Political parties have the power to ensure gender balance because they are the ones who give party tickets to their candidates which can be done through positive discrimination.”
Image: LOISE MACHARIA
He said Human rights defenders and other stakeholders canvassed for gender balance in the county assemblies under Article 177 or the constitution but it was still a challenge to achieve the two third gender rule in the National Assembly and Senate.
In September 2020, former Chief Justice David Maraga told President Uhuru Kenyatta to dissolve Parliament over its failure to enact rules on gender parity and the country might be faced by a similar crisis if there is no level playing ground and affirmative action for women to join politics, Omondi noted.
He said Kenya was losing on women leadership because they have a unique thinking with empathy and strategic planning that need to populate the National Assembly and Senate.
“If there were many women in Parliament to influence policies, Kenyans would not be talking about lowering food prices, the female MPs would have proactively managed the National Budget because parliamentarians are the final authority on it,” he said. BY THE STAR