Tony Waiguru and Kamotho Waiganjo love brainy women

Kamotho Waiganjo was married to Lorna Seneiya, a Nairobi-based publishing consultant and journalist. The two have three adult children. Like the Waigurus, Kamotho and his ex are said to be in amicable terms.

Waiguru, during Uhuru’s first term, was the only Cabinet secretary who was known to be very powerful and close to Uhuru.

Her relationship with Uhuru became the subject of rumours and Uhuru at one point had to clarify that: “There are those who keep on making wild allegations, claiming that Waiguru is whatever to me, or so many other things. But I have mine and I don’t need another one,” Uhuru said at a roadside rally in Eldoret.

In January 2017, Kamotho’s wife won a Spain-based book award for indigenous language works in the world.

Lorna Seneiya Sempele, who is a journalist, took the honours at the third International Language (Auto) biography Award recently for her autobiographical work in Maasai language.

The book, Osaei Okuso Laitaan yanyukie Enkutuk Ang’o’lmaasai (The Beautiful Bead Necklace of My Mother Tongue), is Sempele’s first published work, which celebrates and seeks to preserve the linguistic and cultural beauty of her Maa language.

The award is organised by a consortium of Spanish institutions, among them the Vives Network of Catalan Universities, Aurelia Figuras Foundation, and the Research Group on Endangered Languages of the University of Barcelona.

According to the judges, Sempele’s work stood out because “it expressed in Maasai, a minority language, the important role of language in the construction of culture and how painful such construction can be in the fragile linguistic and cultural contexts of the language.”

She studied French and economics at the University of Nairobi and holds a master’s degree in development studies from St Paul’s University.

Several of her feature stories, focusing on women empowerment, have been published by local dailies.