Remember India’s Indira Gandhi, UK’s Margaret Thatcher, Liberia’s Ellen Sirleaf, and
Kenya’s inspiring presidential aspirant of the 1990s, Charity Kaluki Ngilu?
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India
On visualizing the history of Indian politics, the name, and for some, the image, of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, must inevitably come up. Indians first elected Gandhi as Prime Minister in 1966 when she was only 48 years old.
India, then as now, was very populous. For perspective, the population of the vast Asian country in 1966 was over 500 million, while Tanzania’s was 9 million, Kenya’s was slightly below 10 million, and Uganda’s was slightly below 12 million.
Yet Indira Gandhi’s successes reverberated worldwide. She successfully protected India’s borders, starting with the quick ending of the 1970 Pakistani war that saw Bangladesh gain its independence. Much as she did not want to interfere with the internal wrangles of a neighbouring country, she did not shy away from taking action when Pakistan extended its internal fights to India’s airfields. She ordered her forces to hit back, and within two weeks, all was quiet.
Indians were also pleased by her determination to fulfil her campaign promises. Among her priorities were improving education, alleviating hunger, and enhancing people’s welfare.
Working to make India food-sufficient, Gandhi enabled the ordinary farmer to access high-quality seeds, fertilizers, and other inputs. She also made great improvements in irrigation across the country, through what was termed the Green Revolution.
The results were tangible. India increased its rice and wheat production by almost 40% within a couple of years. Correspondingly, the need to import food dropped drastically, from over 10 million tons a year to below 4 million tons.
UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
In 1979, at 54, Margaret Thatcher won the UK’s general election and became prime minister. At the time, the country’s population was around 56 million, in comparison to Kenya’s 15 million. Thatcher inherited an economy in shambles, with inflation hitting the roof and workers’ strikes being the order of the day.
Without wasting time, she began to work on the economy as she gently but boldly navigated the global scene. She did that in a politically sensitive period – during the Cold War.
Within a few years, she had liberalized the UK economy. She even took bold steps such as privatizing British Airways (BA), a state airline that was gobbling taxpayers’ money year in, year out. Before privatization, BA was overstaffed, inefficient, and loss-making. At the end of the day, Margaret Thatcher’s economic policies led to a significant and welcome drop in inflation.
When it came to defending her country’s sovereignty, Thatcher, like Gandhi, was decisive. In 1982, she did not hesitate to send troops to protect a group of islands under UK jurisdiction: the Falklands. Within 74 days of Argentinian junta forces occupying one of the islands, Britain had hit back and established full control.
Honorable Charity Kaluki Ngilu
In 1997, Honorable Charity Kaluki Ngilu, who later became the Governor of Kitui County, was among 15 candidates who vied for the presidency of Kenya. She was only 45 years old and contested with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) ticket.
Ngilu was the sole serious female candidate in that election. Even more impressive was the fact that, when the results came out, she was not only Number 5 but also within the same range as the two candidates immediately ahead of her, Mr. Raila Odinga and Mr. Kijana Wamwalwa.
Apart from the winner and runner-up, Ngilu did as well as the formidable men candidates.
Odinga and Wamalwa, who became Number 3 and 4 respectively, were considered formidable opponents of the incumbent President Moi at the time. Of all Moi’s opponents, only Mr. Kibaki, who came second overall, was far ahead of Ngilu.
While Ngilu and Wamalwa garnered around half a million votes each and Odinga slightly below 700,000, Kibaki managed close to two million votes against the incumbent’s 2.5 million.
Ngilu Contributed a Lot to the Improvements in Kenya’s Healthcare Sector
Charity Ngilu has consistently been a champion of healthcare improvement and accessibility, and advanced the course as Minister of Health in President Kibaki’s government. She continued to improve the delivery of health services in her county during her tenure as Governor.
Why did Charity Ngilu do so well as a Presidential Candidate?
There must be other good reasons Charity Ngilu did so well as a presidential candidate, besides the unequivocal support of her spouse, Engineer Ngilu.
Mrs. Ngilu entered politics in 1992 and won the Kitui Central parliamentary seat, so she knew her way around the political arena. But so did other women politicians. However, she was neither a veteran politician nor notably rich. She was also not from any of Kenya’s dynasty families. Yet she single-mindedly went for the top seat.
One plausible reason for her impressive bid was the backing she received from enlightened, liberal individuals such as Professor Anyang Nyong’o, who later became the Governor of Kisumu.
Professor Nyong’o and Dr. Apollo Njonjo were among professionals, human rights activists, and other broad-minded individuals who mobilized young professionals, students, and other people of understanding and built a respectable following behind Ngilu. Clearly, to the SDP party, gender was irrelevant when it came to leadership.
Will Today’s Opposition Give Martha Karua an Equal Chance?
The question is whether today’s opposition parties will accord Martha Karua a fair chance. Karua has expressed her intention to vie for the presidency under the party she heads, PLP (People’s Liberation Party). She has also been working closely with leaders from other opposition parties, whose main agenda is to oust the incumbent government.
Most of those leaders, including Karua, have agreed to work together and, if necessary, support a single opposition candidate to win the elections with a clear margin. The big question is:
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- Are these opposition leaders seriously considering Martha Karua a possible compromise candidate?
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- Can they readily set aside their candidature for her sake, the way they would for a fellow male candidate?
Some harsh reality needs to be said: Unless a serious wave of civil education magically sweeps across the country, and unless there are serious conversations regarding male chauvinism and its downside, the best that Karua can hope for is to deputize a male candidate.
Yet:
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- Karua has no issues of integrity
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- Karua is an accomplished lawyer
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- Karua is an advocate for human rights
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- Karua can stand her own ground
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- She is a seasoned politician and former Presidential running mate (deputized former Prime Minister Raila Odinga in 2022).
Martha Karua stands a Better Chance with the Sifuna-led faction of ODM, collaborating with the Gachagua-led Opposition coalition.
Martha Karua vied for the presidency in 2012, when over 12 million of the 14 million registered voters cast ballots, and her total votes fell short of 50,000. Granted, several Kikuyus were among the top contenders, so the tribal vote was split, but her supporters still expected better results.
While Karua need not be the compromise candidate for the opposition to win the 2027 elections, it is a good idea to manage expectations to avoid disappointment. The Kenyan electorate and their leaders need a little more nudging before they can proactively rally behind a woman presidential candidate, no matter how competent. Fortunately, such nudging might not be too far off.
If the Gachagua-led opposition decides to work together with the Sifuna-led faction of the ODM party, the contest for the top seat might become hotter. There may be too many men jostling for the top position, hence too many egos.
In such a scenario, Martha Karua may be the best choice for everyone. The opposition could then come across as reasonably progressive, having accorded a woman the honour of going for the top seat.
Meanwhile, this opposition coalition will have catered to the interests of the Kikuyu community, the same one in the crucial Mt. Kenya region. The representation of Eastern Mt. Kenya, where the current Deputy President hails from, will also have been sorted out.
So, yes: Martha Karua stands a realistic chance of becoming the opposition candidate in 2027, should the ODM splinter group work together with the Rigathi-led coalition of parties. And then she can prove her mettle, just like Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher did.
Without that collaboration, Kenya might have to wait for something drastic to happen before the country has a female president, as was the case with Suluhu in 2021.