Do you know your woman representative?
Two weeks ago, Eve Woman interviewed the first batch of 26 representatives on how they have been keeping busy. This week we speak to more women leaders about the strides they have made.
7. COUNTY: MARSABIT
NAME: Nasra Ibrahim Ibren
INTERVIEW: Sylvia Wakhisi
Nasra Ibrahim Ibren was once and even served as the Principal of Maragua Muslim Girls before she joined politics.
She attests to the fact that for many years, communities in Marsabit County were in conflict with each other due to clan issues and this greatly affected its development.
"We have over 14 communities living in Marsabit and Moyale constituency has six yet they could not see eye to eye. I remember one time when I cried in parliament because I felt our county had been neglected. The area MP brought a motion to parliament addressing the issue of insecurity and that same night the Kenya Defence Forces were posted to the county to restore security," says Ibren.
"I managed to lobby with leaders from Mandera County and brought area leaders to hold talks with them. I also gathered and held peace talks with women for three consecutive days. I am happy that the situation has now improved as they are now in good terms," she says.
Early this year, Rachel Ruto visited the county and launched table banking concept which Ibren says is doing well.
She has also managed to acquire some books from the Kenya Literature Bureau, 20 sewing machines, hospital beds and is waiting for some wheelchairs from Helping Hand, an NGO, all of which she hopes to distribute throughout the county after Ramadhan.
"As women reps, we do not have a kitty and until you approach donors, there is nothing you can do to develop your county," she says.
Ibren says she is also working hard to fight illiteracy in her county. She has managed to provide scholarships for 25 students at university level to go to Turkey and Sudan for their studies.
She is planning to set up a secondary school for girls in Moyale and hopes that before the end of 2017, students will have already enrolled in the school.
Marsabit being among the top three poor counties, Ibren hopes to economically empower youth and women as well as hold civic education programmes on the dangers of female genital mutilation (FGM).
She is married with three children.
8. COUNTY: MOMBASA
NAME: Mishi Juma
INTERVIEW:Sylvia Wakhisi
Mishi Juma has in the past worked with an insurance company and later went into clearing and forwarding before she began participating in community work. She would volunteer with the Mombasa Women Regional Assembly and through that thoughts of vying for a political seat engulfed her mind.
"In 2007, I vied for the Likoni parliamentary seat but just reached nomination level. I then became a Public Relations officer, Kwale county and little by little started organising mentorship sessions with women," says Juma.
Since she became the Mombasa women representative, Juma says one of her key areas of focus has been spearheading economic empowerment for the people of Mombasa by enabling them access loans through micro-finance institutions.
"I have disbursed 2.3 million to six sub-counties so that the women can start table banking. I have given some cash to Sauti ya kina mama Likoni and Mvita for table banking and the next funds will be given to Sauti ya kina mama Bombolulu and Changamwe. I have also registered many women groups to access Uwezo Fund as well as assisted youths in boda boda business to get licences," says Juma.
She also held a big fund-raising for the construction of a centre that will cater for patients with spina bifida and hydrocephalus in the Coast region. The foundation stone has been laid. It will be situated in Likoni.
Juma says she is also partnering with Kenya Red Cross to distribute sanitary towels to ensure that school going girls do not miss school during their monthly periods. She has registered a foundation; Mishi Mboko Foundation which she says will deal mostly on girl child education and the empowerment of women, youth, children and persons with disability.
She has also initiated several water projects including a well at Dongo Kundu, Mwagala village in Likoni constituency where water is a big problem and women have to travel long distance in search of this precious commodity.
She has been at the forefront in organising soccer tournaments both for the youth and women and this she says is to prevent many youths from using hard drugs something that is rampant in Mombasa county.
She has also started a car wash project for the youth and donates car wash machines as well as handcarts for collecting garbage. She says she is closely working with persons with disability and assists them get Uwezo fund for them to become self-reliant.
Her biggest hurdle has been lack of a kitty yet she covers a county with 30 wards.
"As a women rep, you are there to serve the community and not get money because every coin you get is already budgeted for. I am happy that my Governor supports me," she says.
She hopes to put up a big sacco in the county as well as an education fund.
She is married to National Land Commission chairman Mohamed Swazuri and they have two children.
9. COUNTY: NAIROBI
NAME: Rachel Shebesh
INTERVIEW: Sylvia Wakhisi
Rachel Shebesh wore many hats before she became the Nairobi County women representative.
She was a nominated Member of Parliament in the 10th parliament, a member of the Pan African Parliament, the United Nations Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction in Africa, among other roles.
Since she was elected as the Nairobi Women Representative, Shebesh says she has overseen various development projects.
"I have so far facilitated 50 women groups and five youth groups with seed money to start table banking. My office has done a lot of sensitisation and encouraged women and youths to form groups and have them registered. They are therefore able to access government development funds like Uwezo, Women Enterprise Fund (WEF) and Youth Enterprise Fund," she adds.
She has also set up two adult learning centres which offer Basic English classes for those interested in learning how to read, write and speak English.
"In the Roysambu centre we have registered 8 women to sit for K.C.P.E and they are tutored at the centre. We do offer skills enhancement classes at my Golf course Centre. My target so far is the young women who are learning hairdressing and beauty skills on the job. I get experts to help them sharpen their skills in various areas like braiding, weaving, relaxing, putting color, manicure, pedicure, facials among others," she explains.
In 2013, Shebesh launched the Young Fathers Network after the realization that single fathers don't have the same support as single mothers and yet they face the same challenges.
She offers: "I started this network as a way of bringing the young fathers together and so far there are five well established groups which I have supported financially to start up group businesses. I have also partnered with Menken organization which has held various seminars to enlighten them on various men issues."
She goes on to add that her office carries out feeding programmes in partnership with some export companies such as Sunripe Limited, Vegpro International and Finlay's. The companies donate the vegetables and fruits through their CSR programmess and give to women in various informal settlements within Nairobi like Kiambio, City Carton, California, Korogocho, Deep Sea amongst many others.
"My target is to feed 100 women living with HIV/AIDS or the elderly. I also initiated the Uji feeding programme for schools. We piloted at Morrison Primary school, Bahati in 2014. The programme is on the offing since I have managed to get sponsors. I provided uji to over 600 children every morning for the whole year. This also acted as a very good incentive for the children to attend school," she explains.
She also set up the Vision sister's women group with a sole purpose to better women's lives.
"I set up the first five groups in 2003 even before I joined politics and currently the groups are 23 spread all over Nairobi. As the patron, I have ensured that they all have started income generating activities such as pay toilets and bathrooms, nursery schools, houses for rental, weaving, making beads, making soap. Two of these groups have grown from being self-help groups to Community Based Organisations (CBO),"she says.
She also organises leadership mentorship programmes for young women leaders in universities, colleges and the grass root leaders. She has over 50 mentees and says this is an ongoing process.
Despite her achievements, she says she faces some challenges such as lack of funds which has made it impossible to carry out activities and meeting people's expectations.
"People expect me to get them jobs, pay their hospital bills, school fees and offer them financial support," she says.
Shebesh hopes to ensure that children with disability go to school and they can access therapy centres that are well equipped.
"My vision is to do this through the public primary schools that have special units," she explains.
She also wants to continue encouraging women and youth of Nairobi to form groups, Sacco's, CBOs in order for them to access government funds to boost them economically as well as ensure that small traders have permanent and secure trading areas by building market shades, providing umbrellas and lighting. She also hopes to increase the number of adult learning centres in Nairobi to eight.
She is married with three sons and has a grandson.
10. COUNTY: NAKURU
NAME: Mary Mbugua
INTERVIEW: Karanja Njoroge
Nakuru Women Representative Mary Mbugua may not have said much in Parliament but has a notable presence at the grassroots.
Mbugua is, however, best known in the county for her gospel hits and teaching women about family life, entrepreneurship and table banking.
The former vernacular radio presenter surprised many when she emerged the winner in a crowded field to become the first women representative in the county.
She says lack of a development fund for women representative in Parliament has made it difficult for the leaders to make a difference in the grassroots.
"We have worked for two years without any funds from the government but using our resources and it has not been easy," she said.
Due to limited funds Mbugua has concentrated her activities to issuing shoes, slippers and bathing soap to various schools in the county.
She has also been involved in teaching youths about Youth Enterprise and the Uwezo Funds and how to register and even benefit from the funds.
"We are hopeful that the development fund for women representative will become a reality and once we get it we will be able to do more for our people and transform lives," she said
She says two years since their election to represent women in parliament; they have remained like ceremonial leaders because they lack a kitty to help in implementation of various projects.
Her performance in Parliament has been disappointing with her maiden speech as brief as it was unremarkable.
But Mbugua has criticised a proposal by Speaker Justin Muturi that the position of women representatives and nominated MPs be scrapped and in its place there be election of 100 women MPs through clustering of the current 290 Constituencies.
She said if the proposal is adopted, number of women represented at the national assembly and senate will be less as compare to current representation.
"Scrapping women position will bring a big margin as the country moves to have third gender rule because the society still marginalize women more so in elective positions," said Mbugua.
11. COUNTY: UASIN GISHU
NAME: Eusila Ngeny
INTERVIEW: Silah Koskei
Kenya recently celebrated two years after the advent and successes of devolution and a special group of Women Representatives (WR) spread across the 47 counties cannot go unmentioned for their immense work they have done.
Of particular is Uasin Gishu Eusilah Ngeny whose actions have seen over 500 women drawn from all the six constituencies become beneficiaries of social support activities.
The empowerment initiated by the county government in conjunction with the Women representative has seen each woman benefit from poultry project while the youth are able to get a boost through 'Vijana na acre' on going promotion.
Ngeny noted that the leadership platform has enabled her to rally women to table banking which she said has become a source of income to many
"Many women now understand the dynamics of saving, being a member of Joyful women organization, I have been able to influence many to join and we currently boast of Sh 700 million," she said.
Through their association of the Kenya Women Parliamentarians (KEWOPA) she has been able to organize workshops for Members of County Assembly (MCA) and persons with disability.
She maintained that the youth and women have been empowered to register groups in order to secure 30 per cent procurement tenders.
She was categorical that lack of adequate funding and poverty are among some of the challenges that she currently battles in service delivery.
Ngeny added that the region has also witnessed increased cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV) become a challenge to address with limited facilities especially in rural areas.
"We only have Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) which has a special unit capable of handling such cases, we would have made major strides if all medical facilities in the county had similar capacities," she explained.
The legislator maintains that teenage pregnancies and poverty rocks the vast county and one of the worrying issues faced.
"I have partnered with various Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's) such as Rural Women Peace Link (RWPL) to educate the group on the need to value education," she added.
She envisions having a transparent distribution of the planned affirmative action fund totalling to Sh2 billion.
The parliamentarian said she is currently in talks with National Authority for Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) to roll out sensitization programs for the youth against drugs.
"I will also partner with NGOs to ensure that women shift to green energy power in order to conserve the environment from pollution," she added.
12. COUNTY: VIHIGA
NAME: Dorcas Luvalitsa Kedogo
INTERVIEW: Sylvia Wakhisi
She worked as a teacher for 28 years and even served as the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) women representative for the larger Vihiga County. In 2012, she left teaching and vied for the post of women representative Vihiga County with a vision of improving the lives of the people.
Education is among her key areas of focus hence she is working to see that the education system in the county improves. She has sponsored 25 students.
Through her foundation, the Viga Foundation which caters for the school going girls, she donates sanitary towels to schools to ensure that the girls do not miss out on their school days.
When it comes to women and youth economic empowerment, Kedogo has started entrepreneurship training programmes in her county and helped to establish small scale enterprises.
"Some of the projects l have initiated and are currently running include tissue banana which basically involves supplying banana seedlings to farmers and the rabbit project which is open to anyone who wants to get involved and I try to find markets for the farmers," says Kedogo.
She also supports people living with albinism by providing them with sunscreen lotion.
Her greatest challenge has been covering an expansive county with five constituencies yet she lacks the resources.
She hopes to set up a technical institution where girls who are unable to proceed to high school or college will be trained on various skills that will help them become self-reliant as well as market shades for those running businesses.
"I also intend to establish a Gender Based Violence and Protection Centre in the county to assist victims of rape and defilement. Girls who have fallen victim or even their parents fear reporting these cases to the authorities but once the centre is put in place, I hope that they will have more confidence to seek for help," she says.
Kedogo is married with five children.