Politician and women rights activist in Kakamega County Mrs. Florence Andenyi Machayo has challenged women from Western region to overwhelmingly offer themselves for various elective posts in the 2022 general elections, urging the electorate to support their bid.
Speaking to West Media in Lugari, the 83 year old retired politician said it was now incumbent upon women to prove their worth by competitively going for senior positions both in the County and national government and other political arena.
“We should not only go for positions provided for women constitutionally but we should seek more as we have the numbers,” she said adding that women should be ready to support each other.
Mrs. Machayo regretted that as a politician she had tried many times to go to parliament but was let down by fellow women.
“I severally vied for the Lugari parliamentary seat unsuccessfully and the last post I vied for was the Kakamega County Senatorial seat in 2013 but I lost,” said Mrs. Machayo.
Due to age, she said she has given up her political aspirations but encouraged young women to come up strongly and claim their rightful position in the development of the country saying that since the population of women is higher than their male counterparts, if women decided to take reign of political leadership they could comfortably do so.
She said it was regrettable how women were being looked down upon especially among the Luhya community in Western region and denied leadership opportunities compared to other regions.
“We have many elected women in top seats in Central, Nyanza, Rift Valley, Eastern, Coast and other regions whose leadership is a success. Why can’t we in Western emulate them and give our women a chance and see what they can offer in terms of development?” posed Mrs. Machayo.
She named Priscilla Abwao and Julia Ojiambo among lucky women who have managed to go to parliament from the Luhya community several decades ago.
She appealed to voters from Kakamega, Bungoma, Vihiga , Busia and Trans Nzoia Counties to be ready to elect women in the forthcoming general elections.
“We want to see more women MPs, Senators and Governors from the Western region,” said Mrs. Machayo.