When Linet Kemunto Nyakeriga’s name was called out for her to take the oath of office as senator on Thursday, Clerk Jeremiah Nyegenye stood to help her from her chair.
But he stopped in his tracks when he saw that Senator Nyakeriga, assisted by her sister Ruth Atera, was already walking to the rostrum amid cheers.
The blind 36-year-old Nyakeriga is The National Alliance’s nominated Senator who, together with ODM’s Harun Kipchumba, was picked to represent people with disabilities in the inaugural 67-member Senate.
Mr Nyegenye had informed the House that people with disabilities would be aided to take the oath and in voting for the Speaker and deputy from their seats.
The Clerk and his assistants administered the oath to Samburu Senator Sammy Leshore (URP) and Mr Kipchumba in their seats and brought the ballot boxes to them to vote.
Mr Leshore, a former Samburu East MP, is confined to a wheelchair while Mr Kipchumba is physically handicapped.
However, with determination written all over her face, Ms Nyakeriga walked down the stairs to be sworn in and vote for the Speaker.
“She is very independent and prefers to do most things herself, including the household chores. She even cooks. The only things she cannot prepare are ugali and pancakes,” Ms Atera said.
Ms Nyakeriga is still trying to come to terms with her new status which has plucked her from Kiamokama village in Nyaribari Masaba of Kisii County to the Senate where she will rub shoulders with the high and mighty.
“I attribute this to God. Although I had a keen interest in politics, I never imagined I would find myself here so quickly,” the new Senator, who is a knitter, said on Friday from her sister’s home in Rongai.
Ms Nyakeriga was at home in Kitutu Masaba with her mother, Ms Eunice Kwamboka, when an acquaintance told to her that President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta’s TNA wanted to nominate a woman with disabilities to represent the special interest group.
She travelled to Nairobi to present her case. “I have committed to myself to use this new opportunity to articulate issues of people with disabilities in the Senate. If it were not for them, I would not have been nominated. I will forever be grateful to TNA for fulfilling my dream of joining politics,’’ she said.
Senator Nyakeriga, who was born blind, says it will be a tough job proving to Kenyans that disability is not inability.
Before she joined the Senate, Ms Nyakeriga knitted sweaters for a living at the family home in Kiamakoma where she has been living with her mother since her father’s death in 2011.
She went to school at Oda Primary School for the Blind in Siaya District and later enrolled at Machakos Technical Institute for the Blind for a knitting course. In 2009, she attended St Irene Girls in Meru to advance her course and on completion a year later, she was employed as an instructor at Getacho Self Help, Gesusu where she briefly taught students to knit.
She eventually left to work from home. “I decided to open my own knitting business,” she said.
After she was sworn in on Thursday relatives, friends and supporters led by Amariba Women Group from Kisii County broke into song and dance.
Dressed in traditional Gusii attire, they performed the Obokano dance with Mr Nyandika Nyakaya playing the Kamba Nane instrument.
At her home in Kisii, elated villagers thanked TNA.
Mr Joseph Maranga said the party had shown “true democracy and respect for the Constitution” by recognising people with disabilities.
A staunch Seventh Day Adventist, Ms Nyakeriga says she hopes to get married soon and start a family.
Senator Nyakeriga becomes the second blind woman lawmaker in Kenya’s history. In 1998, Ms Josephine Odira Sinyo, a lawyer, was nominated by Mr Paul Muite’s Safina Party to represent the interests of people with disabilities in the House.
Senator Kipchumba, a human rights campaigner, runs the Bare Care Centre, a Baringo-based organisation which deals with governance and democracy.
He described his nomination by ODM to the Senate as a miracle.
“They have removed me from the village where I have persistently fought for justice and a new constitutional order,” he said on Friday.
Source:nation.co.ke
