Bob Odalo
6 January 2008
Nairobi — At 39, Kathiani's Ms Wavinya Ndeti has made history by being the first woman to be elected to Parliament in Machakos district since independence.
In the entire lower eastern region of the district, she and Mrs Charity Ngilu (Kitui Central) are the only female candidates to have made it in a field that was dominated by male politicians.
Of the 276 candidates in the 17 constituencies in Ukambani, only 32 were women. Mrs Ngilu proved critics wrong when she clinched the Kitui Central seat to make it four times in a row.
Ms Ndeti contested the seat on the Chama Cha Uzalendo party to beat a field of 16 male candidates, among them former assistant minister Peter Kyalo Kaindi.
She garnered 28,178 votes, against Mr Kaindi's 9,813, with former school principal Joshua Kimani having 5,877.
"I have put the well earned victory behind me and now I want to focus my energies on justifying the win by giving the Kathiani constituents the leadership they yearned for," She says.
Ms Ndeti adds that she won't take sides in the current standoff that has seen sharp divisions between leading parties ODM and the PNU over the presidential election.
"For me, it is a wait-and-see situation, but my desire throughout my campaigns was to work with whoever forms the government, for this would be to the advantage of my people," she says.
"I hope the current stand-off will end amicably to the benefit of all Kenyans, that is my prayer."
Before venturing into politics Ms Ndeti belonged to a crop of young women business executives. She was the chief executive officer of an information and communication technology company in Nairobi.
She is the last born of pioneer Athi River businessman Peter Nzuki Ndeti and Mrs Elizabeth Mukulu.
Her father who was among the very first African businessmen in the town in the 1940s, shares a record of sorts with Ms Margaret Kenyatta, daughter of founding President Jomo Kenyatta as the first councillors to be elected unopposed in independent Kenya.
She is full of praise for her father - a former chairman of the Athi River town council - and her mother for sponsoring her education in the UK that, she says, helped to shape her and to open up windows of opportunities for her.
Ms Ndeti is married to Mr Henry Dolamu, a chartered accountant in the UK, and they have three children.
The political greenhorn's victory surprised her critics, as did that of Mrs Ngilu. ODM Kenya presidential candidate Kalonzo Musyoka had openly campaigned against the former Health minister, telling Kitui Central voters to "teach her a lesson" for choosing to support his ODM opposite number, Mr Raila Odinga.
But Mrs Ngilu beat two close allies of Mr Musyoka - Mr Mwendwa Munyasya and Mr Benson Makali- to have the last laugh.
She not only shut out Mr Musyoka's preferred candidates, but also went ahead to beat him in Kitui West where her candidate trounced the ODM-K choice.
Mrs Nyiva Mwendwa of ODM-K was the greatest female loser. Until her defeat she was arguably the longest serving woman MP in the region.
She lost her Kitui West seat to newcomer Charles Mutisya Nyamai of Narc, who is a close ally of Mrs Ngilu.
Mr Nyamai had 13,117 votes with former Cabinet minister Francis Nyenze coming second with 10,867 and Mrs Mwendwa 8,847.
Other notable losers were a nominated MP in the last parliament, Ms Adelina Mwau of PNU (Kaiti), Mrs Grace Mwewa and Mrs Agnes Ndetei (Kibwezi).
Although he had predicted that he would bag all the 17 parliamentary seats in Ukambani, Mr Musyoka failed to secure Kilome, Kathiani, Kitui Central and Kitui West as predicted in a pre-election newspaper analysis.
The performance was, however, better than what Mrs Ngilu achieved when she contested the presidency through the Social Democratic Party in 1997.
PICK boss John Harun Mwau has finally made it to parliament after two unsuccesful previous attempts in Westlands (1992) and Kilome (2002).
This time around he had little difficulty taking the Kilome seat after a disastrous performance in 2002.
It was a great political achievement for Mr Mwau who in that year's elections lost to Mr John Mutinda Mutiso. This time around, he beat Mr Mutiso by more than 7,000 votes.
"This time around there was no euphoria; the voters went for quality leadership, leaders they have strong conviction would help them to prosper", Mr Mwau said after the victory.
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