Joined politics
Kihika was married to Mburu in a traditional wedding on November 7 2020 at her parents' rural home in Laikipia County. The ceremony was graced by President William Ruto, who also took part in the dowry negotiations.
Kihika began her career as a lawyer in Dallas, United States of America where she established The Kihika Law Firm, which specialised mostly in representing immigrants. After 20 years in the United States, she returned to Kenya in 2012 and joined politics.
Her first stab at politics saw her lose the Bahati parliamentary seat to Kimani Ngunjiri in 2013. She later contested for the Nakuru County Speaker's seat where she defeated 7 opponents to emerge as the first Assembly Speaker of Nakuru County.
In 2017, she contested and won the Nakuru senatorial seat on a Jubilee Party ticket.
As the first female senator in Nakuru, her political star was on the rise, and in 2018, Kihika was elected as the first vice president of the Bureau of the Forum of Women Parliamentarians.
In October of the same year, Kihika took over first as the acting President and later as President, replacing Ulrika Karlssin of Sweden. And on August 9, 2022, she contested and won the Nakuru gubernatorial seat on a UDA ticket.
She defeated Lee Kinyanjui of the Jubilee Party to become the first woman governor of Nakuru. She is commonly referred to by her county people as the Woman of Firsts.
Last year was particularly a fantastic time for female politicians keen on expanding their families.
Bosom friend
Last year, Geoffrey Kimutai, husband to Bomet Woman Representative Linet Toto, confirmed the birth of their child. He also revealed the baby's gender while celebrating his wife's birthday. Linet is a mother to a baby girl.
Taking to his socials, he captioned: "Linet Chepkorir Toto, You are my bosom friend, my privado, my soulmate, and a mother to my beautiful princess. You are turning a year older, but to me, age doesn't define my love and moments that I will live to cherish with you, forever I will do... YES, I will do that as long as we are still alive. Nicole and I wish you a very happy birthday, darling. You are our happiness. We love you, Mom."
Toto kept the news of her delivery hush-hush. Unlike most people, she did not share the news of her delivery on social media. Toto is a first-time politician and the youngest among those who were voted in during the 2022 general elections.
She shot into the public limelight after the August 9, 2022, General Election where was the youngest woman to be elected to the National Assembly, as the Woman Representative in Bomet County.
Toto is the third-born child of Leonard and Betty Lang'at of Chemomul, Bomet County.
She went to Kapsimbiri Elementary School, where she sat for her KCPE and later on joined Kapsimbiri Secondary School before transferring to Siwot Secondary for her secondary education.
She graduated from Tharaka University in April 2021. She married Godfrey Kimutai on l March 4, 2023, in a traditional Kalenjin Koito ceremony.
Former ODM nominated Senator Daisy Kanainza Nyongesa welcomed her son while serving Parliament between 2013 and 2017. Her supportive husband arranged for a limo to ferry her back home. Sometimes, in 2018, Ziwani MCA Millicent Wambui delivered her baby while still in office.
Another notable politician who gave birth while in office was former woman representative Priscillah Nyokabi. In 2016, Nyokabi delivered a baby boy, announcing the news on social media:
"I thank God for the blessing of a baby boy named Kiiru after my father-in-law. Mum and baby are recovering well," she wrote then. Some female politicians have faced severe political attacks for not having children.
In 2017, Jacinda Ardern, a New Zealand politician, reacted angrily to repeated questions about whether she plans to have children.
"It is unacceptable to be getting those questions in 2017," Ardern was quoted saying in a section of the media.
So what added scrutiny are female politicians under, and conversely, can mothers sometimes use their family lives to their political advantage?
In Australia, former Prime Minister Julia Gillard faced criticism for not having a child.
In an editorial, the Sydney Morning Herald wrote:
"Her media persona does not fit the expectations of some voters: a single woman, childless, whose life is dedicated to her career."
This was one of the kinder comments. While leading Australia, Ms Gillard was called "deliberately barren" by a senator from another party and a "childless, atheist ex-communist" by a rival from her party.
She fought back against personal attacks against her, most notably with a searing tirade against the leader of the opposition, in which she said:
"If he wants to know what misogyny looks like in modern Australia, he needs a mirror."
Back home, political analyst Gitile Naituli, a professor of leadership and management, says that despite changing roles in society, the prominent idea of women is that they are mothers.
"The stereotype of women as primary caregivers is still very much a lens that we like to see women through," he told the Nairobian, adding:
"There's also a trope that gets rolled out about career women. That if a woman doesn't have children, she has sacrificed that for her career," he added.
Prof Naituli says families have become more important in politics as we "become more interested in the personalities or politicians. Men seem to have an opt-out clause for discussions of family, which women don't".
In Germany, former Chancellor Angela Merkel was affectionately called "mutti" (mum) by many Germans, but she has no biological children.
It is not common knowledge why she does not have children, and it is not a topic covered by the press. Germany has strong privacy laws, and the media is much more policy-oriented than elsewhere.
But that did not stop a political opponent trying to weaponise the issue during a tricky time.
Back in 2005, Angela Merkel was running against her predecessor, Gerhard Schroder, and it was his wife, Doris Schroder-Kopf, who commented she did "not embody with her biography the experiences of most women".
It was an apparent reference to her not being a mother.
'A very real stake' in the future
This telephoto readers familiar with the Andrea Leadsom/Theresa May story from the UK last year.
Both women were vying to become the leader of the same party, a leadership that would make them the prime minister.
Mother-of-three Mrs Leadsom told a daily newspaper that being a mum meant she had "a very real stake" in the country's future.
It was interpreted as a dig against Mrs May, who had no children. The comment backfired, and despite an apology, the episode brought down Leadsom's leadership bid.
But it still showed how a woman politician without children may find her childlessness used against her.