Justina Wangui Wamae: Kenya’s glory will be back with a bhang.
Iron ladies in Kenyan politics are few and far between. The late Tetu MP and Nobel laureate, Prof Wangari Maathai, and Narc-Kenya party leader Martha Karua, come to mind.
But in Roots Party deputy presidential candidate Justina Wangui Wamae, the Kenyan political arena has another “Iron Lady” in the making.
Eloquent, assertive and shooting straight, the 35-year-old has taken a path few female politicians have travelled.
Her star has been shining since she was announced as Professor George Luchiri Wajackoyah’s running mate.
The “Queen of Marijuana” is ruffling feathers and has no apologies as she tries to smoke everyone out of her way.
Ms Wamae is “shaking trees” and turning tables in her quest to become Kenya’s first female deputy president.
From selling hyena’s testicles, hanging the corrupt and snake farming, she articulates her party’s manifesto in a way not many can.
On Tuesday, during the deputy presidential debate, she literally ran away with the show, her witty and intelligent contributions setting social media ablaze.
She wiped the floor and puffed away Agano Party’s deputy presidential candidate Ruth Mucheru throughout the debate.
Ms Wamae said with Roots Party, Kenya will be back with a “bhang” to reclaim its lost glory.
She added that marijuana smoke would purify the scarcity mentality that has led to corruption and spiralling public debt.
“I have never smoked bhang but I will smoke it for the first time on August 10 if we win this year’s elections to purify the country,” she said.
Further, she said Kenya would enjoy “maziwa ya Roots na mayai ya Roots (Roots party’s eggs and milk”.
“Marijuana can also make flour. If maize flour is costly, then marijuana flour can cook ugali and chapatti,” she went on.
The ex-chairperson of Warembo na Uhuru lobby group explained that many youths sport a bushy beard because they cannot afford a haircut.
“How can you tell young people education is the key yet we have poor graduates and rich idiots,” said Ms Wamae.
She said “wanatumiwa fare” during campaigns, with Kenyans offering to fuel their cars, provide a place to sleep as well as food.
Ms Wamae has been in politics since 2017, when she garnered a measly 1,200 votes in the Mavoko parliamentary contest.
However, she has now set her eyes on getting at least 20 per cent or 4.4 million voters for Roots Party come August 9.
Born and bred in Kibera, she attended Kilimani Primary School before joining Limuru Girls High School. Thereafter, she joined Daystar University for a bachelor of commerce degree in management and information systems.
After graduating in 2010, she travelled to the UK for a diploma in Purchasing and Supply at the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supplies.
She would come back to Kenya and join the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology for a master’s degree in procurement and logistics.
After failing to clinch the Jubilee Party ticket in 2017, she ran as an independent but lost to Mr Patrick Makau.
She unsuccessfully applied for a principal secretary’s position in the Jubilee administration after the elections.
Before being picked as Prof Wajackoyah’s running mate, she was serving as a client service manager at Datum Dredgers in Kenya.
Credit: Source link