By Linnet Muchoki
Hon Alice Wahome is (2022) the Cabinet Secretary for Water and Sanitation in the 6th National Cabinet in Kenya led by president Hon William Ruto.
Personal Life
Hon Alice Wahome was born on April 28 1959 and raised in Kandara, Muran’ga county. She was raised in a polygamous family. She attended Karumu Primary School before proceeding to Siakago High school for her O-level certificate and completed her A-level certificate at Bishop Gatimu (Ngandu Girls) in 1979. She joined the University of Nairobi for her bachelor of a law degree and finished it in 1984. Afterwards, she was admitted to the Kenya school of law, where she graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Law in 1985. Between 1985 and 1988. Hon Alice worked as a state counsel at the Attorney’s General chambers. She later on, founded the A. M. Wahome and Company Advocates, where she has been a legal practitioner from 1989 to date. She is happily married to Dr Godfrey Wahome Ngayu, a prominent gynaecologist in the country. They have four children; three girls and a boy. The first-born daughter is a media personality, the second a doctor, the third a lawyer and the last son, as of 2021, was still undertaking law at the University of Nairobi. Hon Alice describes her husband as a very supportive in all her endeavours. Dr Godfrey runs the busy woman’s family health clinic at the ICEA building in the city centre.
Political life
She was actively involved in the women’s movement between 1991 and 2001, and during that time she also became a deputy chairperson on the Fida council. She also held a council position for the Law Society of Kenya for two years. In 2013, she vied for the Kandara Constituency parliamentary seat on the TNA party ticket and won, becoming one of the 16 women elected as MPs against 274 men.
During this period, she served as a member of the Departmental Committee on Administration & National Security, Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee, and Procedure & House Rules Committee in the 11th Parliament. During the 2017 general election, she was re-elected on the Jubilee party ticket. During the 12th Parliament, she served as a member of the Committee on Delegated Legislation and the vice chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs. In the 2022 general election, she was elected as a Member of Parliament in the Kandara Constituency then appointed by the president Hon William Ruto, to head the Water, Sanitation & Irrigation docket. Alice is the current longest-serving member of Parliament who has been in government since the time of the late President Hon Mwai Kibaki.
Contribution to the society
She launched a boda boda driving school for the youth in the Kandara constituency. She founded the sinking of a borehole at Gaichanjiru Mixed Secondary School for the institution and the community. She has generally improved the lives of farmers, business people and the youth during the time she has served for Kandara.
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Controversies
Hon Wahome is said to be a very good person who quickly gets along with people and is down to earth. However, when offended, she is someone you do not want to go near.
During the 2021 campaign period, Hon Aisha blasted president Uhuru Kenyatta accusing him of planning to retain power and dividing Mt. Kenya. Embakasi East MP Babu Owino even threatened to shave off her hair if she continued insulting the president and ODM leader Raila Odinga. She also failed to eloquently define what the bottom-up model is.
Hon. Alice was charged with insulting Kandara returning officer Martin Malonza of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). According to witnesses, Wahome confronted Mr Malonza at the Ng’araria Girls Secondary School and accused him of preventing Jubilee agents from signing form 34B.
For failing to comply with the summons for the seventh time, a Murang’a court issued an arrest order for Wahome in 2017. She was charged with power abuse and interfering with on-duty police officers. On June 17, 2016, at Makenji on the Thika-Makuyu old route in Kandara, she was charged with obstructing a police officer. Additionally, it was claimed that the lawmaker blocked the officer by using her authority as a member of the security committee and parliament.
In 2016, she argued against Philomena Mwilu’s appointment as deputy chief judge, stating that she had been paid Ksh3 million to dismiss a petition the legislator had filed over an election. The MP said in a letter to EACC that she was prepared to offer the necessary details so that the judge may be looked at. Justice Mwilu, however, asserted that Wahome’s loss in a Fida (International Federation of Women Lawyers) case against the appointment of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions was the reason for the claims.
In 2013, before her election, she was in the news after male condoms with her name were found in polling stations in Kandara. The contraceptive was printed “Alice gift to the people”. Hon Alice vehemently denies distributing them
famous quotes
“The key to growth and development is education.”
“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed for a lifetime.”
*Linnet Muchoki loves to chronicle Africa’s women leaders as change agents. Email: Linnet.muchoki@gmail.com