No amount of intimidation will stop me from vying

Being a female politician in Kilifi is challenging. Men look down upon you; they see a woman as an inferior person. And the society does not give you a chance to express yourself,” says Ruth Wilson Charo.

Ms Charo is eyeing the Kilifi North parliamentary seat come 2022. She has no doubt she will win.

The 50-year-old describes herself as a servant leader with a deep understanding of the problems bedevilling her people.

Freeing people from poverty, ensuring they have access to clean water, empowering teenage mothers and improving the literacy levels of men and women in her constituency, top on the list of issues she seeks to address once she ascends to political leadership.

“I want to improve my people’s socio-economic status,” reckons the businesswoman in the hospitality and construction industry.

Her push to join politics was inspired by the current situation in her constituency where a bigger population is poor and families are still struggling to earn a living.

“Political leaders who have been in power over the years have not touched the vulnerable citizen in the grassroots who look upon them for support,” says the aspirant who is currently undertaking a degree course in hospitality management.

She laments that most boys here have a bleak future as they lack focus in life, while girls drop out of school due to poverty. The constituency currently has many illiterate young mothers.

“I am always saddened when I see girls drop out of school because of either lack of fees or pregnancy. I want to end that,” says Ms Charo who is popularly known as ‘Mama Bendera’.

She is the founder of a namesake foundation established in 2005. It is devoted to women and girl-child empowerment.

She is also concerned about the women in the community who are struggling to raise families and survive on a hand-to-mouth cycle.

“Once they get money from their daily hustle, they do not know what do to the following day.”

These challenges, Ms Bendera says, have increased vulnerability in the constituency.

Though she praises former MPs and the current one for prioritising education, she argues that children cannot learn on empty stomachs.

“An illiterate society is a poor society and no matter how many schools we construct while our children starve, we are still losing the point,” she adds.

Girls too, cannot be in class during their menses, which has affected the standard of education in the constituency.

“A packet of sanitary towel might appear cheap because it costs Sh50 but not all parents can afford that,” says Ms Bendera.

The mother of two hopes to start mini industries to provide jobs for the youth and improve the collapsed agriculture and tourism sectors by bringing experts on board.

“Many people in Kilifi yearn to change the community through tourism and agriculture, but are not empowered; the two sectors are core in poverty eradication,” she adds.

Ms Charo has supported young mothers, married women, widows and youth by giving them capital to start small businesses through her charity program.

She has also nurtured talents in art and sports through the Bendera Foundation, and is at the forefront helping reform women drug addicts.

The businesswoman says her family, especially her husband, support her ambition to join politics.

“My husband started supporting my charity work in 2005 and at some point, he said I was the right person to represent them at the national assembly,” an elated Ms Charo says.

Among the work she has done for the community include the construction of classrooms and toilets in primary schools within Kilifi. She also constructed an access road and a church in Majaoni.

Most of the funds she uses for her charity work are from her hotel businesses.

She runs the famous De Coffee Pub and Titanic hotels in Kilifi town.

She is quick to disclose that her friends and business associates have also promised to support her political journey.

Clinching the seat is not a sweet life cruise on the Indian Ocean, so she has learnt.

Since last February when she declared her political ambition, she has had it rough - from threats to spoiling her business, to physical attacks, which she says are aimed at scaring her off the path.

“I started receiving threats the moment I declared my interest,” she says.

Last June, Ms Charo could have been killed by an armed gang who raided her home in Bofa Estate in the outskirts of Kilifi town.

She links the attack to her political rivals saying “her opponents are not happy with her ambition and with her move to support the needy.”

Nevertheless, the intimidation fuels her energy to continue campaigning and run civic education on electing transformative female leaders like her.

“I would like to send a signal to those who feel threatened by my stand, they have made me stronger. I shall double my efforts to fight for the voiceless, I will use my resources and ability with the help of my good friends and together, we shall build the economy of my people,” she says.

She promises to push the two-third gender rule once in Parliament, by asking male politicians who support the law, to join women in ensuring it is passed and implemented.

“Our male MPs forget that women across the world are ascending to leadership fast. This is a warning to them because they may find themselves vulnerable just like the female gender is if they don’t support us,” she says.

In 2017, she unsuccessfully vied for Sokoni Member of County Assembly seat.

[email protected]