On the way side fell many veteran politicians who have been in Parliament since time immemorial. The likes of David Mwenje who lost the PNU nominations to little known Simon Mbugua, Nyanza only spared 5 out of the 21 immediate former MPs.

In the recent nomination exercise, women also had their share of losing with Prof. Wangari Maathai losing the nominations to F. T. Nyammo. Others who suffered the same plight were Christine Mango, Alice Wahome, Hellen Sambili and Alicen Chelaite.
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WHEN President Kibaki dissolved the ninth parliament three weeks ago, civic and parliamentary aspirants braced themselves for the race to the 10th parliament by making known their political interests and identifying the best political vehicles.

This year's election saw an impressive number of female aspirants determined to trounce their male counterparts in both the civic and parliamentary elections in the December polls.

Though some fell victim to politically instigated violence, this did not deter their ambition to bring change to the political arena, a decade after the introduction of multi-partyism to the in Kenya.[Read More]

A good number of women aspirants have already been cleared in the first huddle and are bracing for the titanic battle ahead which their supporters are confident will be “a smooth ride,” according to Moses Mwangi a number 9 matatu driver in Eastleigh. Moses says victory in Starehe constituency “will without doubt go to Bishop Wanjiru.”

In Kamukunji, Bahati ward, Ms. Jane Kinywa, asked on the prospects of a woman making it to parliament in Kamukinji put it curt clearly, “there will be major surprises in Kamukunji as well as other constituencies in Nairobi as we will be celebrating the victory of women on December 28th.”  Ms. Kinywa said men are fond of employing violent and abrasive tactics whenever they sense danger “but this time round they are in for a shock of their life. A rude shock.” She said. [Read More]

IN Sotik constituency Lorna Laboso made history when she defeated men by getting 16,419 votes against 8,317 votes.

Lorna is among the few women in Kipsigis who will battle out with men in other parties but women have resolved to elect her in December polls.

The community for along time has had a low opinion on women when it comes to leadership roles but the same has since changed since more women are being elected to elective posts. [Read More]

WOMEN parliamentary aspirants have joined hands to criticize the recently concluded process of parliamentary and civic nominations that were characterized by serious electoral malpractices and irregularities.

Speaking during a press conference held at the Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD) on November 20, 2007, women aspirants from various political parties in the country observed that political parties went to the primaries largely on the three coalition platforms that were hurriedly configured, hard no stable membership and could hardly marshal appropriate systems and mechanisms for managing the demands of the massive nomination process.

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Does this strike you as odd that only 2 days after Prof. Wangari Maathai came in a distant third in the PNU primaries, she boarded a plane to be awarded the yet another international honour in India for her commitment to peace and environment.

Prof. Jacqueline Oduol, another pride and joy for Kenya spent six months in 2001 drafting the country’s National Gender Policy in Rwanda. The renowned author of the book Gender and Ideology: The Role of Language, Gender Advocacy Research and Sexist Ideology in Dholuo is also behind the "Sigoti Girls' Complex in Nyanza which is modeled on Starehe Boys Centre.

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Nyanza was perhaps the hottest nomination zone of all claiming 18 casualties. Only 5 immediate former MPs succeeded in the ODM nominations.

We can therefore expect that the battle was even tougher for our female aspirants. Just days before the nominations, Monica Amolo who was an aspirant in Ndhiwa constituency reported that she was attacked by hired goons of two immediate former MPs in Homa-Bay District.

In this region, the over 50 female aspirants declared to run in various constituencies on ODM tickets. It was truly a grueling experience with hardly any of them making headlines during the process. In other constituencies where we heard of women losing by just a whisker or at least coming close, one would have been justified in thinking that the Nyanza had no female candidates where Rozah Buyu came close to winning the primaries after coming in second to John Aluoch in Kisumu Town West. [Read More]