Wavinya Ndeti

Wavinya Ndeti (born 3 November 1967) is a Kenyan politician who has been chairlady of the governing council of the Kenya Water Institute since 7 February 2019.[2] She previously served as a Member of Parliament for the Kathiani Constituency in the 10th Kenyan parliament. She was the first and so far only woman to have represented the constituency since independence. She was a WDM-K candidate for Machakos Governor in 2017, having contested the seat previously in 2013 on the CCU ticket, but lost on both occasions to incumbent Alfred Mutua.

Honorable Wavinya Ndeti
Assistant Minister Youth And Sports serving with Kabando wa Kabando [1]
In office 3 April 2008 – 9 April 2013
President	Mwai Kibaki
Prime Minister	Raila Odinga
Minister	Helen Sambili (3 April 2008 – August 2010) Paul Otuoma (August 2010 – 9 April 2013)
Preceded by	Judah Ole Metito
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Member of Parliament for Kathiani
In office 29 December 2007 – 4 March 2013
President	Mwai Kibaki
Prime Minister	Raila Odinga
Preceded by	Peter Kyalo Kaindi - NARC
Succeeded by	Robert Mbui - WDM-K
Chairlady for Kenya Water Institute
Incumbent
Assumed office 8 February 2019
President	Uhuru Kenyatta
Cabinet Secretary (Water)	Simon Chelugui
Personal details
Born	3 November 1967 Machakos, Kenya
Nationality	Kenyan
Political party	Chama Cha Uzalendo (2007–2017) WDM-K (2017-Present)
Other political affiliations	Party of National Unity (Kenya) (Coalition partner) (2008–2012) Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (2012–2017) National Super Alliance (2017–present)
Spouse(s)	Henry Oduwale ​ ​ (m. 1990; died 2016)​
Children	3
Parents	Peter Nzuki Ndeti
Residence	Machakos
Alma mater	South Bank University, (BSC, Graduate Diploma, Advanced Diploma in computer science)
Website	www.wavinyandeti.co.ke
Nickname(s)	Osa Vinya na Wavinya

Political history

Wavinya Ndeti joined politics in 2007 contesting and being elected MP for the Kathiani Constituency under Chama Cha Uzalendo. She had previously participated in the ODM-Kenya primaries, which she claimed were rigged in favor of incumbent legislator Peter Kyalo Kaindi, forcing her to switch to Chama Cha Uzalendo. She eventually won a landslide victory, garnering 28,178 votes against Kaindi’s 9,813.[3] In winning the seat, Ndeti became the only woman to have represented the constituency in Parliament since independence.

Ndeti was appointed to a grand coalition government as a Co-assistant Minister for Youth and Sports under Helen Sambili.

During the 2010 constitutional referendum she supported the new constitution, citing the importance of having a uniform distribution of resources and having decentralized leadership. Although the document was unpopular in the Machakos District, the majority of Kenyans voted in favour of the new constitution, which President Mwai Kibaki promulgated on 27 August 2010.

2013 and 2017 elections

Ndeti, one of the founding members of CORD,[4] ran for the newly created office of Governor of Machakos on a CCU ticket in 2013. She picked former Water and Natural Resources minister Mutua Katuku as her running mate.

She lost the bid to Alfred Mutua and subsequently lost the election petition on grounds she failed to appoint enough party agents to all polling stations.

In 2017, Ndeti and Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana pledged to rejoin Wiper Democratic Movement under a brokered agreement known as the Emali Declaration. In the declaration, Kibwana was to defend his seat on the Wiper Democratic Movement and Ndeti would be given a direct ticket to unseat Mutua.

Wiper Democratic Movement-Kenya

Ndeti ditched Chama Cha Uzalendo for Wiper on the morning of 5 April 2017, in line with the law that requires candidates to change political parties within 90 days of an election. Initially, she was handed direct nomination with Peter Mathuki as running mate, but the party decided to hold primaries.

The deal had been a product of months of negotiations between the Wiper Party and Ndeti's CCU party, with Kalonzo said to have prevailed upon Mathuki and Machakos Deputy Governor Bernard Kiala to compromise their ambitions in favour of a ticket that would send Mutua home and win back the seat to the party.[5]

Muthama, the incumbent senator, announced that he would not defend his seat in the 2017 Kenya general elections on the Wiper ticket.[6]

This led to the WDM-K NEB awarding a direct nomination to former Machakos County Secretary for Education Jackson Kala[7] to represent the party in the Senate election.

Ndeti was cleared to run for Governor by the IEBC in early June 2017.

Ndeti on 9 June challenged the ruling at the High Court.[8]

High Court Judge George Vincent Odunga stayed the IEBC tribunal decision. On 14 June 2017, the judge rejected a petition by the IEBC to disqualify himself.[9] Kiala decided to run as an independent.

Criticism

In April 2019, the Nairobi News website by Nation media posted reactions by Kenyans to criticism of Ndeti's views on the post-partum care she received after the birth of her elder son Charles while in the UK.[10]

References

1. "Kenya National Assembly Official Record (Hansard)". 24 June 2010 – via Google Books.
2. "Wavinya Ndeti Lands Government Appointment, After Losing Election Petition". KahawaTungu. 9 February 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
3. "Wavinya Ndeti takes a vision of hope to Kathiani : The Standard". The Standard. 12 April 2009. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
4. "CORD Kenya election – Africa Sustainable Conservation News". Africa Sustainable Conservation News. 24 December 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
5. "The Star". The Star.
6. "The Star". The Star.
7. "Wiper settles for Jackson Kala after Muthama quits senator race". The Star.
8. "Court orders IEBC to add Wavinya Ndeti in list of cleared candidates". The Star. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
9. "Miscellaneous Civil Application 301 of 2017 - Kenya Law". kenyalaw.org.
10. "Wavinya bashed online for bragging about luxurious child birth in the UK". Nairobi News.