Female leaders unite to empower women

By DENNIS ONYANGO and PETERSON GITHAIGA

Turkana and Kajiado Counties: County women’s representatives from marginalised communities in the Rift Valley are collectively working on a formula to empower women and girls in the region.

They have vowed to launch initiatives to improve girl-child education, fight female genital mutilation and mobilise women and youth to form self-help groups to benefit from the Sh6 billion set aside by the government for women’s empowerment.

Joyce Emanikor of Turkana has launched a campaign dubbed Operation Go Back to School to ensure girls who dropped for lack of school fees, early marriage and pregnancy resume learning. In addition, the county has created an education trust fund to support girl-child education in the area.

End retrogressive cultures

Emanikor, who was an employee with Unicef before being elected to Parliament, has engaged the organisation to support the initiative by offering scholarships to bright but needy students.

“We are also engaging companies that are drilling for oil in this area to join the drive,” she said.

Turkana women working outside the county, especially in Nairobi, also formed an association to raise funds for books in aid of girls’ education, the legislator confirmed.

The programme, she said, “has greatly reduced the practise of retrogressive cultures” and is aimed at educating girls on their roles and other social aspects of life to curb early pregnancies, marriages and HIV infections.

Zipporah Kering of Nandi County confirmed her county has begun a programme to ensure girls who were forcefully married return to school. “I have five such girls who are now doing well in school and we are working to give them support.”

The women’s representatives, who are currently traversing their counties on empowerment missions, said they collectively fought to retain management of the Uwezo Fund  which is yet to be disbursed to the counties.

Meanwhile, Kajiado East MP Peris Tobiko has urged the youth and women to take advantage of the interest-free Sh6 billion Uwezo Fund to establish businesses.

She said women should build on their financial foundation and education to overcome life’s challenges.

Propel economic well-being

Speaking in Kitengela where a new assistant chief, Moses Karaine, was being installed, Tobiko called on youth and women to come up with groups that can propel their economic well-being.

“Retrogressive cultural practices, illiteracy and poverty among women in Maasailand have contributed to the suffering of many,” she said.

She said she would use her position to ensure women also have a role to play in the community rather than being relegated and limited to household chores. She added that it was time for a shift to rescue women from poverty.