Growing up in a humble background, Lily Chepkemoi Langat, who is living with a disability, knew that only education could liberate her from the chains of poverty.
But she was disappointed after failing to secure a job despite her tertiary education.
The 28-year-old attributes her predicament to her condition, called phocomelia, saying it is the reason potential employers have rejected her.
Her job-search frustrations, coupled with a deteriorating state of affairs at home, prompted her to join elective politics, with the aim of addressing some of the challenges facing people with disabilities (PWD) and other vulnerable groups.
Because her mother also lives with a disability and has suffered a similar predicament, Ms Chepkemoi sought to get into the Nakuru County Assembly by vying for the Mauche ward representative seat.
She hopes to help pass more laws to protect vulnerable people like her.
“The challenges facing persons living with disability are yet to be addressed fully. Whereas the law has set out provisions that take care of this constituency [it] is yet to be implemented fully for reasons that we cannot understand,” said Ms Chepkemoi.
When the United Democratic Party exempted aspirants in the PWD group from paying nomination fees, she grabbed the opportunity and submitted her application.
With the help of friends and well-wishers, she printed a few posters and carried out online campaigns for her candidacy.
Her job-search frustrations, coupled with a deteriorating state of affairs at home, prompted her to join elective politics, with the aim of addressing some of the challenges facing people with disabilities (PWD) and other vulnerable groups.
But running the campaigns was not an easy task for her, especially with her condition.
Because she uses a wheelchair, it was not possible for her to cover a wide region to meet voters and had to depend on friends to spread her message by word of mouth.
She also lacked the resources to mount a serious campaign machinery. Having been jobless for the last six years, Ms Chepkemoi only depended on the little money she received from well-wishers to take care of some of her expenses.
In the race, which had attracted at least 18 aspirants, Ms Chepkemoi came ninth with 189 votes, losing to Mr Moses Koros, who won with 2,480.
She conceded defeat but with her head high. To her, these results were encouraging and gave her the impetus to try again in the future.
Results are encouraging
“Considering that this was my first time to vie and all the challenges that had occurred during the trial, the results are encouraging and given another chance, I believe I will do better and possibly win the race,” she said.
After the loss, she decided to support the winner as a way of supporting the UDA party that had given her the opportunity.
She came out of the competition with great lessons. One is that the community needs to be sensitised on the need to elect leaders based on their issues rather than someone’s age, gender, marital status or physical appearance.
She said she could overhear, during campaigns, some residents dismissing her candidacy on the grounds that she was a woman and more so with a disability.
“Others thought I was looking for sympathy votes due to my condition, which was unfair. What they ought to know is that I am capable of representing them, my physical condition notwithstanding,” said Ms Chepkemoi.
She said some of what people were saying about her demoralised her and sometimes she felt intimidated about facing voters and asking for their support.
She held on to the end and says next time she will be much wiser and will start campaigns earlier and give a deaf ear to propaganda.
But her dream of pushing for the interest of the PWD is not dead. She says she will try to find a way of having her agenda addressed in the assembly.
Ms Chepkemoi is also ready to be nominated by the party to represent special interest groups.
“It is my hope that when the party will be doing its nomination it will consider some of us who are living with disability. I come from a family that has been greatly affected and I believe I am better placed to champion the interests of the PWDs,” she said.
Born in the rural Mauthe ward, Njoro sub-county, in 1994, Ms Chepkemoi went to Bomet Township Primary School before joining Kipchimchim Secondary in Kericho County.
In 2014, she enrolled at Egerton University for a certificate course in procurement studies before joining Mount Kenya University for a diploma course in mass communication and graduated in 2018.
She has tried to find a job, to no avail.
Among the issues she wants addressed is the implementation of the 30 percent allocation of all government tenders to women, youth and PWDs, the cash transfer programme and allocations of government jobs. BY DAILY NATION