Ofeibea Quist-Arcton
1 January 2003
(Page 2 of 2)
What is Mwai Kibaki like?
He is a humble man, he is a very committed man. He is not corrupt, he is very honest and he is very stable, a very stable and hardworking person. He is a family man and has good values. And I think that, especially in a country where we have been destroyed by corruption, it is good to have a person who has been in the leadership for as long as he has been, but he has not been caught being corrupt or mismanaging or taking advantage of the natural resources or the people he represented.
But can Kibaki and Narc deliver on the ambitious campaign pledges to pull Kenya out of economic recession, tackle unemployment, zero tolerance for corruption, an end to cronyism and all the things that opposition leaders all over Africa promise all the time, yet often fail to fulfil?
We are encouraging the civil society in this country to monitor the Narc government and to hold it accountable for the promises it made. We all understand that we were on a political platform and manifestos are sometimes written so as to impress the voters. But we are also committed. Some of us have come from a very committed public service in the civil society, so we will hold our government accountable and we will definitely stand to be counted in trying to ensure that many of the promises that were made are honoured.
And we have said to the public that if we become zero tolerant on corruption, we are a very rich country and we have many friends, therefore we can meet many of these commitments. We also have a very hard working citizenry. And if they encouraged and they are paid their due, we expect to see a lot of energised communities and energised Kenyans producing, rather than reaping and raping the country.
You must be very pleased to have been elected to parliament. But you didn't do that much campaigning for yourself because you were busy on the national campaign for the president.
I knew that my constituents really wanted me. They had wanted me to represent them for a very long time. And when I was campaigning, I knew I would be needed to campaign for the president. Even if he hadn't had an accident, we needed to take him around. But after the accident, it was extremely important for some of us to really go out and campaign for him.
But I kept in touch with my people through my agents and I let them know what I was doing and they approved of it. After all, you know, the president comes from Nyeri (Province) and his constituency borders mine, so I was kind of a good neighbour to him.
What was it about you, why do you think you won?
I think the people of this country wanted to see me win. It was very interesting. My Tetu seat was almost like a national seat. There were so many people, especially the constituency of the Green Belt Movement, which is a national constituency, and the constituency internationally - which had been monitoring activities and activism in Kenya - were all wondering how I would eventually score in the government. So there was a lot of energy helping me and encouraging me and pushing me. I think it was at the right time and I was in the right party, with the right candidate, Kibaki. And they were ready for Wangari!
And what about the role of women within the National Rainbow Coalition? You are one of seven elected women MPs in the party, who could possibly be part of the government. Do you think women are going to feature prominently, but not as tokens in the new Narc administration?
As you know, several of us women were elected, all of them powerful women in their own right. Narc had promised that at least one third of all positions would be taken up by women, therefore promising affirmative action for women. And certainly we will push for this; it is a matter of holding Narc accountable, especially those of us women who will be in the government.
And certainly those of us who come from a very strong academic background and quality leadership, we do not expect that women will be nominated to positions just to fill positions. I would be the last person to advocate that any woman should be given a position, because that would undermine the capacity of the women to make headway in the government.
It is very important that the government appoints capable women, so that we can really perform and demonstrate that we women can do a good job. There is not a shortage of such women in this country. You cannot have mediocre women being appointed and then use that to prove that women are not capable.
We have emphasised in our campaign that we will respect meritocracy, which was completely ignored in our previous administration. Therefore we expect that we will get good, quality women who will be appointed to good positions, so that we can be an inspiration to other women, especially the new generation of women, but do so by truly performing and demonstrating that women can give good leadership.
More than 30 women stood for parliament, but only eight were elected, why?
The usual things that afflict women afflicted women this time. Women came out very strongly during the nomination period, but many didn't make it to parliament, for the same reasons that women don't make it. One of them is the financial contribution that is required. Many women really don't have those kind of resources.
Other women didn't make it because we still live in a society where people look at a man before they look at a woman. And being a woman, you have to be so much better and so much more exposed to be able to make an impact on the general voter than men do.
I have also met several women, young women, who were just ignored because they were young, unmarried women and yet very, very capable. Yet, we have young unmarried men who get elected into parliament. So we met the same biases that women often confront at election time. But as you can see we did slightly better this time than the last time. So it's a very slow process.
But it goes to confirm that women still need affirmative action to be able to come into the mainstream and provide a critical mass of women in positions of influence.
What's your message to the women of Kenya?
I am extremely grateful to them. They have been so supportive for so many years and they have encouraged me even in some very trying moments. Women have identified with me and with the struggle that I was representing. And when I won, I can't tell you how many women stopped me in the street. In this hotel, women in the sauna were calling me through the window. They were yelling and shouting, and I went in there and hugged them. They were wet all over!
And I must say that it's not just the women. It's the men, it's the old, it is young women. I think that because I have been on the scene for so many years, for more than two and a half decades. I have worked in public, but without an elected post. So many people have watched me as I have worked. And they were so happy to see me in the government of Narc at a time when we are making wonderful change, for which they believe I have been working.
So I want to thank the women in particular and the people of Tetu for giving me this privilege and I promise, I shall do my best.
So should we expect to see Wangari Maathai as Kenya's new environment or agriculture minister, or why not, foreign minister?
It has been very interesting during my campaign, and especially now that I have won my seat, to hear people saying we hope that you will be the new minister of the environment so that our forests and our environment will be safe. In fact, my constituents said we want Wangari, because we know that she will be the new minister of the environment.
Now, we hope that the president is listening to this advice and, if he does make me minister for the environment, I can assure him that I will do a good job. And I can assure Kenyans -and Africans in general - that we shall set an example of how we can manage our enormous resources in this region, so that we are not seen as a people who have been so endowed by God with so many natural resources and yet are ranked some of the poorest in the world.
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