By Linnet Muchoki
Roselinda Soipan Tuya, is Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary (CS) for the Environment and Forestry. She was born in 1979 in Narok County. She is the daughter of former Narok South Member of Parliament Samson Ole Tuya. Her mother had no formal education, and her father was the only one among 15 siblings to attend school. Her father is her greatest motivation.
She completed Ole Ntutu Arid Zone Primary in 1994 and The Kenya High School in 1998. Between 1999 to 2002, she completed her bachelor of law at the University of Nairobi. In 2010, she completed her Master’s in law at the University of Washington.
She is married to former Narok county Assembly Majority Leader Stephen Ole Kudate. She was a mother of two by the time she was elected as a member of parliament. Hon Soipan noted at the time that it is not easy striking a balance for young women parliamentarians, juggling roles of being a mother, wife and representative of the people.
Between 2004 and 2006, Hon Soipan worked as a Legal Advisor on Land Rights at Mainyoito Pastoralist Integrated Development Organisation. Between 2006 and 2008, she worked as a Legal Officer in the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs. Afterwards, in 2009 she was the Acting Executive Director and Legal Aid Coordinator at the Kituo Cha Sheria. Later in 2010 worked as a Land Law and Gender Specialist with USAID.
Initially, Hon Soipan did not want to become a politician as her father served as the Narok South MP for two terms during the seventh and eighth parliaments. At the same time, her mother was a councillor in Narok County Council. As she was more of an introvert, she never felt she was the right person to carry on the mantle, but fate had its plans, as is evident today. She served her community as an advocate offering pro-bono services by championing the rights of women from marginalised communities. In 2011 she was approached by her community people to contest for the Narok Women Rep seat, which she gracefully declined.
Two months before the march 2013 general election, she was nominated to run for the women’s rep seat by her community, and she accepted. Previously the community’s favourite was the late Patricia Parsitau, who died under mysterious circumstances in November 2012. Though she entered the race relatively late, she got more than 140,000 votes becoming the candidate with the highest number of votes in the county in that election, where she contested under the Jubilee Coalition ticket.
During the 11th parliament, she was the chairperson of the implementation committee and a member of the Departmental Committee on Defence & Foreign Relations. During the 12th parliament, she was a member of the Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs and Procedure and House Rules Committee. She was also the first chairperson of the Chairperson’s Panel. During the 2022 general election, she opted out of vying for the Narok gubernatorial seat. She was then involved in the development of the UDA Women Charter and later nominated as the Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Environment and Forestry, she is the first Masaai woman to be nominated into the Cabinet in Kenya.
Hon Soipan Tuya has always rallied to benefit the girl child in her career. She is prioritising ensuring that girls and women have equal opportunities for and access to education and the resources needed to excel. She influenced the permanent ban on female genitalia mutilation(FGM) that the Loita Maasai elders officially announced on February 6th 2019.
In a 2013 interview, she acknowledged that though the practice is generally banned, it still happened and noted that not only will the law prevent the practice but also successive dialogues that will make the community understand that it jeopardises the lives of women. It is a total detriment to those who go through the agonising cut. In September 2018, Hon Tuya and the representatives of Days for Girls(DFG) organisation went to the Central Rift Valley, in the Narok County region, to meet 362 Masai school girls and their mothers to conduct a DfG Ambassadors for Women’s Health class and distribute DfG sanitary pads. Under the National Government Affirmative Action Fund, Hon Soipan, supported 100 bright students from poor backgrounds who are now in secondary schools. Also, among the programs she ran in her docket were issuing water tanks, and funds to empower vulnerable groups such as women, youth, and people with disabilities.
Some of her notable challenges as a member of the parliament included stressful moments in 2018 when voting on the Financial Bill was taking place and had a lot of commotion. She got a lot of bashing from some MPs who alleged that she rigged the vote in favour of the Jubilee coalition party. During this time, she was sued alongside former National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi.
Her supporters lovingly refer to her as the Iron lady and are proud of all her achievements. Narok Chamber of Commerce Chairman David Mpatiany says, “Ms Tuya is one of our own. She is a typical Maasai woman who had grown up in the Maa culture and beat all odds to become a renowned advocate before she joined politics. We are proud of her,” He believes Hon Soipan is an excellent example to the Maa community. He also reiterates that education for women should be embraced as they are also capable of leadership as their male counterparts.
*Linnet Muchoki loves to chronicle Africa’s women leaders as change agents. Email: Linnet.muchoki@gmail.com