Murang'a women leaders decry smear campaign by male rivals

As advocacy for more women to vie for elective seats is heightened in the country, women leaders from Murang’a say they have had to deal with gender-based insults and intimidation to rise to their positions.

The women leaders say their families have been exposed to insults and their sexual morality questioned, something their male opponents do not face.

Despite the county priding itself as having one of the highest percentage of elected women MPs in the country, the women gave harrowing accounts of the experiences they had when they joined politics, saying becoming a leader needs perseverance.

Three out of the seven constituencies in Murang’a are led by women MPs.

In 2017, 23 women excluding the 47 Woman Reps, were elected to the National Assembly, an improvement from the 16 elected in 2013. Three were elected to the Senate with three other women elected governors.

The number of elected women Members of the County Assembly also increased from 84 in 2013 to 96 out of 1,450 wards.

Article 81(b) of the Constitution provides that not more than two-thirds of the members of elective public bodies should be of the same gender.

A report released by FIDA in 2018 showed that women account for 23 per cent of the National Assembly and Senate and that only nine per cent of all candidates were women.

According to Maragua MP Mary Waithera, becoming a legislator was a gruelling affair as she was the only female aspirant and vied against 14 men in 2017.

Waithera said at some point, the men ganged against her and bullied her, sending hired goons to her meetings to intimidate her.

“They would come to my meetings and shout that they were not ready to be led by a woman,” she says, adding that they used the Wangu wa Makeri folklore against her.

In 1902, senior chief Karuri wa Gakure from Kangema appointed Wangu Wa Makeri as the first woman chief. Chief Wangu Wa Makeri then ruled until 1907. It is however said that the woman was such a high handed leader, that at some point she sat on men while addressing meetings.

But according to the County Museums curator Anthony Maina, the legend was concocted by men as a ploy to get the chief to resign because they did not believe in being led by women, especially at the time when the local culture was undiluted.

Her story has since been used to discourage voters from electing women into leadership as men express concerns that women leadership could take a similar turn.

Waithera said some husbands discourage their wives from vying for political positions because of the notion that many women abandon their marriages when they get elected into leadership.

“The society still has a low attitude towards women leadership in terms of performance and takes them to be prostitutes with low moral values,” she said. 

Waithera urged male opponents to stop using smear campaigns to intimidate women candidates and instead compete with them on the basis of their agenda.

She called for heightened civic education for women to support each other and take advantage of their numbers to achieve the two thirds gender rule.

Men should also be encouraged to support women and accept that women can do better in leadership, she says.

Murang’a Woman Rep Sabina Chege, a former radio presenter, said her background in the media eased the transition into politics as she had already learnt the art of effective political communication.

“I had a foundation that I used to mentor young boys and girls and it gave me access to the grassroots,” she said.

But vying for the position also exposed her to the scrutiny of her social life, something she said men are not subjected to.

“People wanted to know my marital status and other things that do not add value to leadership. No man has to answer questions on who his wife is,” she said.

Sabina loved donning short skirts and dresses but after a few meetings, she was forced to start carrying lesos or women would come in and cover her. This forced her to change her dressing and now prefers long dresses.

Being a young mother of three made playing politics harder for her as her children too needed a lot of her attention.

But Sabina, who is the chairperson of the health committee in the National Assembly, told the Star that one of the main challenges she faced was cyber bullying and that she made several reports to the police before finally giving up.

She went on to garner the highest number of votes in the county in the last elections but her position had no kitty to help her meet voters’ expectations.

“Politics is male dominated. To get your space even when the party leader comes in, you have to really fight for it as a woman,” she said.

People labelled her a prostitute and would peddle lies about the men she was supposedly having relations with. She says she got used to it and no longer pays much attention to it.

After announcing her bid to vie for the governorship in 2022, Chege said she is ready for her male opponents to direct their propaganda at her as the only woman opponent, especially given that she is one of the longest serving MPs in Murang'a county.

“They use other women to try and bring you down,” she said.

Despite the exemplary leadership shown by the women legislators, Sabina said some residents are still opposed to being ruled by a woman.

Anybody harassing and intimidating a woman should be arrested and their candidature cancelled.

If a woman excels in leadership, she inspires more women to come out and vie, she said.

Esther Mwihaki was elected as Gaturi MCA in December 2020 following the death of the former area MCA Kiiru Mbembe. She had vied for the position in 2017 but lost to Kiiru.

As a single mom with a new born child, Mwihaki said she was attacked and told that she could not keep a home.

People accused her of being promiscuous and said she did not deserve to lead them as once she got married, she would relocate to her matrimonial home.

Balancing her new family and leadership was difficult, she said, adding that men on the other hand are free of responsibilities and are able to hold meetings even overnight.

“I received text messages from men telling me that they would rape me and had strange cars trailing me during campaigns,” she said.

Now that she is an MCA, she expressed concerns that most committees are led by men and that many people, even in the assembly, still think women are unable to lead. 

Mwihaki said the local social culture disadvantages women financially especially coming from an era where women education was lowly regarded.

“This is why women groups have strong leaderships and prosper but the women are unable to vie for political positions. The society treasures a boy child more than it does the girl child,” she said.

-Edited by SKanyara