Why William Ruto offers better prospects for women than other coalitions

Kenya Kwanza presidential flag-bearer William Ruto with UDA legal team after the signing of the Kenya Kwanza Women chapter at Nyayo National Stadium on June 10, 2022. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]

The upcoming General Election has been billed as a momentous period for our country.

I agree because this is one of the few times a political contest is being fought on the platform of cogent issues affecting the common man and woman, and not the usual pettiness and corrosive tribal bigotry.

One of the pivotal issues at the epicentre of the current political discourse apart from the battle of economic models, is the gender agenda.

The gender agenda has become most pronounced and is being canvassed by all and sundry with the leading presidential candidates, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Deputy President William Ruto, putting their best feet forward to appeal to the significant bloc of women voters.

As a woman and a candidate in the August 9 elections, I am thrilled that finally we have come of age to a point where women are driving the agenda as opposed to the past when women issues were pushed to the backburner. Then, women were seen as a threat, weak or unfit.

Now, significant gains have been made in attaining gender parity. The 12th Parliament, for instance, saw an upsurge of elected women leaders. This is a milestone we must all celebrate as a country.

The number is expected to go up in the August polls since more women have thrown their hats in the ring to battle it out for positions and Kenyans have also embraced women leaders.

Dr Ruto and Mr Odinga have both expressed goodwill in terms of their commitment to include more women in their respective governments should they clinch power.

But Kenyans must evaluate them on merit and make an informed choice. The big question is, in whose hands are Kenyan women safe?

In my assessment DP Ruto and the Kenya Kwanza coalition offer the best hope for women in nearly all facets.

First, Ruto has prudent and exceedingly elaborate plans spelt out in the charter he signed with Kenyan women.

Secondly, he has shown strong commitment to ensure half of his cabinet will be women; and lastly, the robust and revolutionary healthcare programme embodied in the Kenya Kwanza manifesto and the life-changing welfare programmes put forward for women, are indisputably more appealing.

There are acres of difference between the Kenya Kwanza plans and those of Azimio la Umoja One Kenya. Azimio and Mr Odinga believe that nomination of Ms Martha Karua as running mate is enough for Kenyan women.

They are peddling her nomination as the antidote to all challenges facing and falsely believing that it will sway women to vote for Mr Odinga. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Don’t get me wrong. I have no qualms with Karua’s nomination, I celebrate her as a woman. But it is not about one woman occupying an executive position, it is about more women getting a chance both in appointive and elective positions.

Women empowerment should be a holistic approach to ameliorating the challenges they face both in terms of getting leadership positions and a myriad tribulations and roadblocks erected by society that hinders them from achieving their aspirations.

The narrow-minded thinking that once you appoint or elect a single woman to leadership, then you’ve done enough, is archaic.

The robust Kenya Kwanza agenda for women is not an empty rhetoric. Dr Ruto is a leading champion of women and has given them a better offer should he be elected president.

Of all the nine women governor candidates in this election, seven are in Kenya Kwanza, only two are affiliated to Azimio.

And there are more women candidates vying for various positions in Kenya Kwanza coalition than in Azimio. Ruto is walking the talk on women empowerment.

Ruto and Kenya Kwanza coalition have the most believable and transformative programmes for Kenyan women.

The Kenyan women must therefore cast their votes for the Deputy President to consolidate and advance gains made over the years.