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First for Nakuru county as women sweep eight elective positions

They include Kihika (governor), Karanja (senator) and Chelule (woman representative).

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by SHARON MWENDE

News12 August 2022 - 20:44

In Summary


  • Kihika beat the incumbent Governor Kinyanjui of the Jubilee Party, who got 225,623 votes.
  • She lauded the electorate for embracing women empowerment.
Nakuru Senator Susan Kihika at the County tallying centre on August 12, 2022.

Nakuru has made history by becoming the first county to vote for the highest number of women in the eight elective positions.

Since 2013, Kenya has witnessed majority of male leaders across the counties, a trend that the Rift Valley county has now broken.

On Friday, the outgoing Senator Susan Kihika was declared the governor-elect.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission said she won after garnering 440,707 votes.

Kihika beat the incumbent Governor Lee Kinyanjui of the Jubilee Party, who got 225,623 votes.

Kihika lauded the electorate for embracing women empowerment.

"I want to thank the people of Nakuru for being progressive and electing three women to the leadership of this county," Kihika said. 

The lawyer, who has been in politics since 2013, was first elected speaker of the Nakuru county assembly.

She served till 2017 then vied and won the senatorial position in which she won with 637,700 votes.

For the senatorial seat position,

Keroche Breweries CEO Tabitha Karanja has been certified as winner for the senatorial position.

"This is the first county that has elected a majority of women and we will not let down the women of Nakuru. We will prove to the world that women can do better than what men can do," she said.

Nakuru county returning officer Joseph Melle said Karanja won with a vote count of 442,864 votes.

She trounced the second contestant, John Mututho, who got 36,432 votes.

She was contesting against four other opponents, including Gachinga Mwai (7,223), Koigi Wamwere (6,335), Githenya Mwangi (4,680) and Lawrence Karanja (163).

The entrepreneur contested on a UDA ticket.

Liza Chelule retained her woman representative seat after garnering 382,143 votes. Her closest competitor, Agnes Njambi of the Jubilee Party, got 194,610 votes.

Four of the 11 constituencies have also elected women.

Irene Njoki of Jubilee clinched the Bahati MP seat while her Naivasha counterpart, Jane Kihara of UDA, was re-elected. 

Others include UDA's Martha Wangari of Gilgil and Charity Katambi who won the Njoro parliamentary seat.

Bahati MCA seat also went to a woman, Grace Mwathi.

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