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CITY GIRL: Thank you voters for showing confidence in female leaders

By NJOKI CHEGE August 12th, 2017 3 min read

Dear Kenyans,

Today I would like to take this opportunity not to ask anything of you, but to say thank you!

Thank you for not just a peaceful election, but for electing women, too. Thank you for giving women an opportunity to be your governors, senators, MPs, MCAs and, of course, woman reps. And thank you for making history.

This time, the 12th National Assembly will have a record 22 female elected MP. This is a great improvement from the 16 who were elected in 2013.

Five more women elected to this parliament might seem like a small addition, but I see progress. I see baby steps and giant leaps. This is the Kenya we want, the Kenya we need and the Kenya we should aspire to have.

WOMAN POWER

A special thank you to the people of Bomet. Thank you for giving woman power a chance. Thank you for taking the unbeaten path and setting the trend for the rest of Kenyans that what a man can do, a woman can do as well.

The people of Kirinyaga you had two strong and independent women to choose from. You also made history and delivered a female governor.

To the people of Kitui, who quietly made their decision that chilly morning of August 8, and gave Mrs Charity Ngilu an opportunity to serve you, the books of history will also smile on you for going against the grain.

How could I forget the millions of Kenyans in Nakuru, Uasin Gishu and Isiolo who delivered the first three female senators to sit in the Senate, not as nominated senators, but as duly elected senators.

Thank you for giving us these trailblazers; Susan Kihika, Prof Maragret Kamar (right) and Fatuma Dullo.

I want to take this opportunity to especially thank the people of Samburu and North Eastern Kenya (Ijara), these two pastoralist communities that defied barbaric anti-women notions to give us the first elected women MPs.

We now have the first woman elected MP Naisula Lesuuda. People of Samburu God bless you for such progressive forward thinking.

NO SMALL FEAT

Thank you, to the people of Ijara, you have elected Ms Sophia Noor, the first woman MP from North Eastern Region. This is no small feat. Your voice has been heard, loud and clear that this is the time for women.

I must say that it gives me great pleasure and encouragement to see so many women breaking cultural barriers and glass ceilings, defying odds stacked against them to win with resounding victories. These victories are not just theirs.

They belong to every little girl, every young career woman (like me), who has been told that their dreams are too big and they are over-ambitious. This sends a message that no dream is too big and no ambition is unachievable.

It shows every woman and little girl in this country that women should not just rely on tokenism and nominated positions, that it is indeed possible to fight, fight and fight until you achieve your goal.

Seeing women excel in politics teaches young women like me in the corporate world that the only difference between where I am and where I want to be is hard work and resilience.

HARD WORK, LONG HOURS

It teaches women in academia who aspire to be professors and celebrated scholars that nothing is too big to achieve if you put in the hard work and long hours.

It teaches girls in high school who want to be scientists, doctors, politicians and journalists that it is possible for you to get that big job because there are women who have gone before us and showed us it is possible.

It sends a clear message to young girls in North Eastern and Samburu and encourages them to stay in school, take their education seriously because there is a bright future, if only you work hard and stay focused.

It means the world for some us, very ambitious young women, that if Dr Laboso, Ms Ngilu, Ms Waiguru, Prof Kamar, Ms Dullo and Ms Kihika can scale those heights then what is stopping us from achieving our wildest dreams?

Thank you, Kenyans.

And to Kenyan women, this is our time!