.jpeg)
Hundreds of women from Kirinyaga have asked President William Ruto to reciprocate their support by appointing Governor Anne Waiguru as the Deputy President.
They endorsed Waiguru as the most suitable candidate to take up the Deputy President’s position should Rigathi Gachagua’s impeachment sail through.
Speaking in Kutus town, the women, who included community leaders drawn from all the 20 wards, said Kenya is now ripe for a woman Deputy President, and Waiguru was a sure bet for the position.
They asked President Ruto to return the DP position to Mt Kenya Region and this time give it to a woman in keeping with his promise of having a female running mate in the future.
“As residents of the Mountain and Kirinyaga, we fully supported President Ruto in 2022, and we are asking him that should that opportunity arise, he should reciprocate our support by giving us Waiguru as the Deputy President,” said Mary Nyawira.
She said that Waiguru has a proven track record in transformational leadership, as seen in Kirinyaga, where she has supported thousands of households to implement economic empowerment programs that have uplifted the lives of county residents.
“If that opportunity comes, we know that Governor Anne Waiguru has what it takes to lead the country into greater prosperity. If she has done it Kirinyaga, she can as well do it in the entire country. We are also confident that she can uplift the lives of women and children in the whole country,” added Nyawira.
She said that even though they hadn’t envisioned the current turn of events, the region is not short of able leaders, adding that they would be appeased if the seat was given back to one of their own should there be such an eventuality.
“We have our backup plan, which is Governor Anne Waiguru, whose track record has been exceptional. As a county, we have reaped the best from devolution courtesy of Governor Waiguru. We don’t want just a woman, but we want a women who can deliver. That woman is Waiguru, and we are giving her to Kenyans,” Khadija Wanjiru said.
Wanjiru cited Waiguru’s vast expertise in economic policy and governance, development track record and education as key ingredients to helping the President get the country back on track. The women said that they are aware that the seat might be falling vacant but then, the people of the mountain are not orphans since they have tried and tested leaders such as Waiguru.
She noted that Waiguru has turned Kirinyaga into a benchmark for other counties in terms of development and as far as giving life to Ruto’s Bottom Up Economic Transform Agenda at the grassroots.
Their sentiments were echoed by Irene Wakio, who noted that women have always wanted to be represented at the top and should that chance come, the president should consider giving it to Waiguru.
They reminded the president of his pledge to support alternative gender leadership where if the president is a man, the deputy is a woman and vice versa.
“Kirinyaga has the best female candidate, and we are appealing to you to take her as your deputy, and we assure you she will not put us to shame. Waiguru is a worker, she has a national vision and does not discriminate,” Wakio said.
Since Deputy President Gachagua’s impeachment process commenced, there have been calls to replace him with a candidate from the Mountain region, with intense lobbying by women across the country to have women appointed to the position.
On Monday, groups of women in Murang’a and Nairobi counties called on the president to appoint Waiguru, hailing her as the best-suited candidate who has a national outlook and comes with the experience needed to take the country forward.
They termed her as a leader who is not concerned about tribal affiliations but rather interested in service delivery to the people. Even before the process to impeach Rigathi commenced, governor Waiguru had already started getting endorsements to run for the DP position in 2027.
In a recent G7 Strategy activation in Kirinyaga, more than 30 leaders from across the country hailed the governor as the best-suited candidate to take the mantle of DP, given that she had already shuttered the glass ceiling both at the National and county levels.
Leaders, including governors, Members of Parliament, and members of various county assemblies, as well as Ida Odinga, wife of former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga showered praise on her as a progressive leader and a woman of many firsts whose development record both at the National and county government is outstanding. The two-term governor had served as a Cabinet Secretary before joining politics in 2017.
She also became the first women to Chair the Council of Governors. At the National level, she will be remembered for having transformed public service delivery through initiatives such as Huduma Centers, Integrated Financial Management Information System (FMIS) and Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO)
At the county level, she became the first governor to come up with a development sessional paper, ‘The Mountain Cities Blueprint 2032’ which guides the implementation of Kirinyaga’s development agenda.