Accused of exchanging sexual favours for their roles in campus politics, Uni beauties now speak out

 Some of the Influential female University leaders in Kenya

Accompanied by his team that features two female student leaders, the Kenyatta University Students Association President George Thuku, will throw a homecoming party today in his native Gatundu constituency.

Among the invited guests are local politicians, the Students Organization of Nairobi University (Sonu) boss Babu Owino, his special advisor and prospective student leader Rose Macharia, who also happens to be the reigning Miss Kenyatta University, among others.

The ceremony comes only weeks after the new Kenya Universities Female Student Leaders Association (Kufsla) held a press briefing to give their political position on the calls for the suspension of the troubled Devolution Cabinet Secretary Ann Waiguru.

Getting into a position of power and leadership as a woman in a male-dominated world is hard and often one will have to prove themselves over and over again before gaining respect and, in university politics, this remains true.

The positions they hold have made them some of the most popular ladies in their respective universities and theirs is to prove that it is not just a man’s world.

They meet and interact with the high and mighty and the doors that would otherwise have not have been open to them are ajar.

Popularity, parties, networking with the high and mighty, international trips, retreats, salaries and free accommodation at the university are all perks that come with their positions.

The climb to the top for these female university student leaders is proof that it is a lot tougher for women than for men but they are fighting for their place in university politics; a stage which for most, prepares them for national politics.

For Irene Kendi, the former and first ever female vice chairman of Sonu, having grown up with three sisters all raised by a single mother, women’s rights is something she has always held close to her heart.

“I come from a family of four girls and my father divorced my mother for having given him girls only so getting into university politics came naturally to me. I have had to work and fight for everything I have,” she told Pulse.

After enrolling for a Bachelor’s degree in education at the University of Nairobi’s (UoN) Kikuyu campus, her leadership character was soon put to work only two weeks after enrolling.

The former student leader who is commonly known as ‘Mama Yao’, organised her fellow First Year students in the parallel programme to demand that they be issued with student identification cards at their campus instead of having to pick them from the main campus.

“Senior students were not very happy about my outspoken nature but I realised I could move crowds and I had support,” she said during an interview.

Finding a very low number of female students in active politics at the different universities spurred Kendi to go out and convince women to come out of their shells and join university politics, and to use it to fight for their rights.

“There were only two female students at my first Kenya University Students Association (Kusa) meeting and the men would not even let them talk. My first agenda as a student leader was to create a level playing field for ladies to get into university politics and we have seen the number of female students rise steadily,” she points out.

Tribalism, sexual harassment and male chauvinism are all issues the women have endured to get to the top, with the current Sonu vice chair pointing out she had a physical altercation during her first elections at the university where she bagged the seat of School Representative.

“The male aspirants will not give much thought to whether you are a woman or not so it can easily end up in a physical fight. Tribalism is the other problem. One tribe wants to be the dominant one, which is unfortunate,” points out Abigail Gacheru, the current Sonu vice chair.

For Abigail, getting into politics was a way of proving society wrong.

“Before enrolling for a degree, I told my father that I wanted to do a course that did not attract many women and we settled for one in the construction industry, a Bachelor’s degree in real estate, all in a bid to show that a woman can do what a man can do,” she explains.

“Campaigns require a lot of resources and finding the money is difficult. Aspirants will often look to politicians at the national level for help. Some will help you but some will also ask for sexual favours in exchange for the financial support and male counterparts will try to drag your name through the mud all for that seat. You will be accused of all sorts of things like sleeping with the university election officials,” Abigail points out.

According to Abigail and her predecessor Kendi, women politicians at the national level have not come out to support or mentor young female leaders at the university level.

“Female politicians have not really been supportive of female university student leaders. They only come back to us when we have won our respective seats and they would want to leverage our position for something,” the two point out.

Securing a seat in the St Paul’s University town campus Governing Council for Joy Ondiba, a Third Year student studying Finance, was a trying move even as she secured the position of Secretary and Head of Clubs, because her name was dragged through every gutter.

“People said all sorts of things about my getting the seat. Rumours in school had it that I must have slept with someone to get the seat. My friends even came to me to confirm if it was true or not,” Joy recalls.

Being a woman who lives with disability may make it twice as hard but not impossible. Kenyatta University’s (KU) current deputy president of the students’ union is living proof of that.

Ann Mercy Wanjiku, a Fourth Year student studying Pharmacy, lost her ability to walk after a road accident after sitting for her Kenya Certificate for Primary Education examinations.

Fast forward a few years later and she is the second most powerful voice among the students at KU.

“I lagged a year behind my friends in terms of school because of the accident so my friends went to campus before me. I remember how they described the excitement of campaigns and election time at the university and I could not wait to experience it,” Ann Mercy narrates.

After helping a friend campaign for a seat in the students union, Ann realised it was a lot easier to vie than she had initially thought.

She vied for the Special Needs seat against her friend who also lives with disability.

“I would go campaigning door-to-door but the biggest challenge for me was dispelling the notion that a person with disability cannot lead,” she explains.

In her tenure, Ann has introduced a beauty pageant for special needs students as well as salsa dancing.

Though she admits the student population had to get used to having her as their face and speak for them, she would do it all over again.

“There is something exciting about contesting for a seat and I have every intention to go after the highest seat,” she reveals.

Purity Gitonga the current director for Health at Moi University, Nairobi campus literally spent sleepless nights strategising on how she would clinch the seat. Finances were a challenge and she had almost no support at first.

“I was vying against one of the most popular girls in school, so I had to wake up really early to campaign among students who were coming in early and staying on late,” she explains.

With financial help from her mother, she clinched the seat but her success was not merited on what she could do but on her looks.

“People said I got the seat because of my looks,” Purity adds.

For Purity and Irene, their sights are on national politics where they can continue to fight for what they believe in though Joy is not too keen on getting on the national stage; touching lives and changing them for the better is what she hopes so.

Ann Mercy’s hope for now is that universities in the country will provide an enabling environment for students with disabilities to thrive.

“I have been an advisor for student leaders and as Miss Kenyatta University, I am involved in most of their activities. I help them organise events and since I am in it already, I will be vying for an executive position in the association in the next elections,” Rose Macharia concludes.