I was talking to my niece Judith today. She is just about to finish her training as a nurse in the Nursing Training School.
She asked me to pay the last Shs 40,000 semester fee. Usually, it is me and her brother Gordon who have been paying these fees for four years. Then I ask her, dear Judy, what are you going to do after you finish college. She said don’t worry I am going to get a job. She has done internships in five hospitals in the last two years.
Will Judy get a job? That is my first question to the next government. Will that be a good-paying and secure work for her and thousands of other Kenyan health workers who are predominantly women?
Fixing the health sector is going to be one of the priority tasks of the next administration. If Kenyan women take leadership in the next government it is a big advantage for the country. Women work in all aspects of healthcare in our country like in all other countries.
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They are underpaid, no job security, and have no technical equipment to do their job. That has to be addressed right off the bat.
One of the biggest revolutions we are about to witness in our country is that Kenyan women are going to be at the head table of the next government. The fact that Martha takes that front seat is what makes it real and significant. Martha Karua is no pushover, the whole world knows that.
The biggest challenge for Martha and the next government is to streamline and support women’s businesses right from the smallest tomato seller, the vegetable farmer, the trader, and all women entrepreneurs in every aspect of business in our country.
Kenyan women being in power is not about Martha Karua sitting as the DP at State House. No. It is about how women are empowered to take control of their lives and earn a good living as citizens of the country. It is coming and my sisters, I have four of them, are excited.
Adongo Ogony is a Human Rights Activist and a Writer who lives in Toronto, Canada
