Kenya is a leading light in women empowerment in Africa. Here are Kenya’s top women leaders currently serving in government.
A. Governors
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Charity Ngilu
Charity Ngilu, Gorvenor Kitui County
Charity Ngilu is an astute politician and an accomplished leader in Kenya having been the first woman to run for president in Kenya in 1997. She started off as a secretary at the Central Bank of Kenya before she plunged in to politics in 1992 bankrolled by her tycoon husband, the late Engineer Michael Mwendwa Ngilu.
To gain relevance, she plunged into opposition politics running for the Kitui Central parliamentary seat on a Democratic Party ticket. She won and in the next election in 1997, she ran for president on a Social Democratic Party (SDP) ticket which she performed dismally, coming a distant 5th, an election won by the incumbent, President Daniel Arap Moi.
In 2002, she teamed up with President Kibaki and other opposition figures to run against President Moi’s chosen successor, Uhuru Kenyatta. President Kibaki won and appointed Ngilu to the Health portfolio (2002-2007) and later served in the Water and Irrigation docket (2007-2013) under the Kibaki administration.
She then switched camps and joined President Uhuru Kenyatta who appointed her Minister for Lands, Planning and urban development (2013-2015). She was dismissed on corruption allegation in 2015.
She successfully ran and won the Kitui county gubernatorial seat, running against David Musila and sitting Kitui Governor, Julius Malombe.
2. Anne Waiguru
Anne Waiguru came to the limelight when she was appointed Cabinet secretary for Devolution by President Uhuru Kenyatta following the 2013 general elections.
The Precious Blood Riruta alumni is a graduate has had an illustrious career in government having served as a director for Integrated Financial Management and Information System (IFMIS), and Head of Governance at the National Treasury. She also served as a Board Member in government parastatals such as Public Procurement Oversight Authority and Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF).
Her service as a government technocrat gave her access to crucial information and contacts which she used to become the most influential cabinet minister during her 2 year stint at the cabinet. She gained notoriety as being a pusher and the go to person to get anything done in government.
However, corruption allegations at the National Youth Service (NYS) which was under her docket brought her fairy tale to an abrupt end. She went down fighting by asking President Uhuru Kenyatta to relieve her of the ministerial duties on health grounds.
She successfully ran for the Kirinyaga County seat against Martha Karua, an accomplished politician and long serving leader in Kirinyaga.
3. Joyce Laboso
Joyce Laboso was working as a lecturer in the Language and Linguistics Department at Egerton University when her sister, the then MP for Sotik, Lorna Laboso died in a plane crush in 2008. She left the lecture room for the ballot and won convincingly (with over 10,000 votes). She has served as the MP for Sotik until she ran for Bomet County Governorship in 2017.
Previously, she has served as the deputy speaker of the National Assembly and she is the ACP Co-president of the ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.