Laboso, Waiguru, Ngilu Make History as Kenya’s First Elected Female Governors

Dr Joyce Cherono Laboso, Anne Waiguru and Charity Ngilu on Wednesday made history after beingthe first elected female governors in Kenya.

Dr Laboso was declared the winner of the Bomet County gubernatorial race, edging out incumbent governor Isaac Rutto.

Laboso on a Jubilee Party ticket, won with 176,454 votes against Rutto’s 86,452 votes. Rutto ran uder the Chama Cha Maendeleo (CCM) party, and is one of the Nasa principals after having endorsed Raila Odinga for the presidency.

Laboso, 56, is the Deputy Speaker of the outgoing National Assembly of Kenya. The former Egerton University lecturer has represented Stotik Constituency since 2008.

In Kirinyaga, Anne Waiguru of Jubilee Party beat a fellow female contestant - Martha Karua of Narc Kenya.

Waiguru served as the first Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary when President Uhuru Kenyatta assumed power in 2013. She resigned from the position in 2015 following the National Youth Service (NYS) scandal.

In Kitui, Charity Ngilu of Narc survived the wave of Kalonzo Musyoka’s Wiper Democratic Movement (WDM) to beat David Musila (an independent candidate) and incumbent governor Dr Julius Malombe of WDM.

Ngilu, 65, entered active politics in 1992 when she was first elected as Kitui Central MP. She has also served as a Cabinet Minister (during the Kibaki administration), and most recently as Cabinet Secretary for Land under the Uhuru Kenyatta government. She contested the presidency in 1997, finishing fifth.