Martha Karua might become the first woman to occupy the office of deputy president in Kenya after Raila Odinga announced her as his running mate in this year’s election.
“After 60 years of independence, we can’t excuse the male dominance of the executive,” Odinga, 77, said in a televised address on Monday. “History is calling us to close the gender gap in our country.”
Karua, 64, previously served as a lawmaker for two decades, has been a Cabinet minister and worked as a magistrate.
Photo: Reuters
She hails from the vote-rich Mount Kenya region, home to the Kikuyu, the country’s biggest ethnic group. Election results in Kenya are usually determined by how the nation’s five largest ethnic communities vote.
Odinga is a front-runner in the Aug. 9 race to succeed Uhuru Kenyatta as the nation’s fifth president, after failing on four previous occasions to win the race.
His main rival, Deputy President William Ruto, on Sunday named Rigathi Gachagua, a lawmaker who hails from the same region as Karua, as his running mate.
“The fact that both running mates are Kikuyu from Central province reflects the fact that this is a key battle ground,” said Nic Cheeseman, professor of democracy at the University of Birmingham. “Odinga’s choice may give him greater credibility, as Karua is seen to be an independent thinker willing to stand up for her principles.”
Women account for 51 percent of Kenya’s population, according to a 2019 census.
Kenya’s constitution requires no more than two-thirds representation by one gender in all elective posts.
“Women have been instrumental in pursuing change” in Kenya, Karua said. “This is the moment to usher more of us to the front line.”
The candidate who wins the support of three of the five biggest ethnic groups — Kenyatta’s Kikuyu, the Luhya, Ruto’s Kalenjin group, Odinga’s Luo and the Kamba — is almost guaranteed to win the presidency.
Kenyatta is backing Odinga to succeed him.
A candidate needs to win more than half the national vote and at least a quarter of the ballots cast in half of Kenya’s 47 counties to win.
Thousands gathered across New Zealand yesterday to celebrate the signing of the country’s founding document and some called for an end to government policies that critics say erode the rights promised to the indigenous Maori population. As the sun rose on the dawn service at Waitangi where the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed between the British Crown and Maori chiefs in 1840, some community leaders called on the government to honor promises made 185 years ago. The call was repeated at peaceful rallies that drew several hundred people later in the day. “This government is attacking tangata whenua [indigenous people] on all
A colossal explosion in the sky, unleashing energy hundreds of times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. A blinding flash nearly as bright as the sun. Shockwaves powerful enough to flatten everything for miles. It might sound apocalyptic, but a newly detected asteroid nearly the size of a football field now has a greater than 1 percent chance of colliding with Earth in about eight years. Such an impact has the potential for city-level devastation, depending on where it strikes. Scientists are not panicking yet, but they are watching closely. “At this point, it’s: ‘Let’s pay a lot of attention, let’s
The administration of US President Donald Trump has appointed to serve as the top public diplomacy official a former speech writer for Trump with a history of doubts over US foreign policy toward Taiwan and inflammatory comments on women and minorities, at one point saying that "competent white men must be in charge." Darren Beattie has been named the acting undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, a senior US Department of State official said, a role that determines the tone of the US' public messaging in the world. Beattie requires US Senate confirmation to serve on a permanent basis. "Thanks to
UNDAUNTED: Panama would not renew an agreement to participate in Beijing’s Belt and Road project, its president said, proposing technical-level talks with the US US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday threatened action against Panama without immediate changes to reduce Chinese influence on the canal, but the country’s leader insisted he was not afraid of a US invasion and offered talks. On his first trip overseas as the top US diplomat, Rubio took a guided tour of the canal, accompanied by its Panamanian administrator as a South Korean-affiliated oil tanker and Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship passed through the vital link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. However, Rubio was said to have had a firmer message in private, telling Panama that US President Donald Trump