These are the women breaking new ground in Kenya’s politics.
They are both women who will be the ruling class’ key representatives.
In Kenya, women are a key electoral constituency.
They hold 40 per cent of the country’s cabinet posts and 35 per cent of the parliamentary seats.
Of the 30 women in the ruling party, 15 are also governors.
The remaining are not, but are very close to the ruling party.
One of them is President Uhuru Kenyatta.
He has a close relationship with his wife, who is the ruling party’s deputy secretary general for youth development.
“If you put yourself in the place of a woman in the country, you will find many women that represent the interests of the state, and you will find many women who represent the interest of the church and their own interests,” says Michael Sata, a senior fellow and director in the Department of African Studies at Nairobi’s Kenyatta University.
“For them to be doing this, they are representing something that is extremely valuable,” he says.
“They are representing the interests of ordinary people who have come to expect that politicians be men and women.”
Women’s political representation in the ruling party
When the Kenyan constitution was amended in 2013 to allow women to run for national assembly or senate seats, the first woman to do so was Constituency Secretary for Youth Development, Elizabeth Omondi.
She beat out incumbent minister for women’s affairs, Njoki Mwinyi, who had been appointed to cabinet as minister of women and children in the outgoing National Assembly government.
Omondi, who is also the secretary general of the ruling National Super Alliance (NASA), had been a minister in the outgoing Cabinet and was also a member of parliament for the first time.
She won the nomination from the Nasa’s Youth wing.
“I’ve been campaigning with my friends and colleagues, and we have gone to all the primaries and elections,” she tells the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “We have a lot of backing from young people. We are really ready.”
The election happened in the middle of a presidential election.