Governors’ wives are now seeking government recognition and funding in order to carry out their community duties.
According to the County First Ladies Association, which claims that the title will soon be changed to first spouses of the governor following the election of female governors, the wives claim that they are unable to serve due to a lack of funds.
Emily Nyaribo, the wife of Nyamira governor Amos Nyaribo, stated that they “are not flower girls” as they work hard behind the scenes.
They stated that society expects a lot from them, but they are unable to perform due to a lack of funds since their positions are not recognised by the government.
She asked the county assemblies to pass the bills establishing first ladies’ offices when they came before the houses.
They demanded government recognition because they “do a lot of work that helps the community.”
The first ladies of Nyeri and Kiambu, as well as wives of past and present members of parliament, were also present.
‘We don’t have a budget and whatever we do is because of the partners we have and the goodwill,” Nyaribo said
‘We want to urge you the county assembly members and the governors to fast track institutionalization of the first ladies’ offices so as to get a budget to help and support the work that you do,” she added
Agnes Ochillo, wife to Migori governor Ochillo Ayako, on her part, said they just hold ceremonial offices adding that they are just driven by the passion to do the work they do so that they can assist the governors.
“We walked with them when they were campaigning and said a few things that we would do once our husbands are elected and that is what is driving us,” she said.
“For your information, we don’t receive any salary, we put aside everything we do on daily basis to come and ensure the community is supported and that’s why when you mention disability, health, empowerment we are there.”
Ochillo, who is the vice chair of the association noted that being the wife of the governor, society expects them to have money as they bring all their problems to them expecting them to solve all of them.
“We go out of our way to look for funds for our projects, which is a daunting task because the counties do not give us funds contrary to popular belief,” she said.
The two stated that they run projects that improve the lives of many Kenyans using funds from donors or their own money.
They were speaking at the launch of Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month in Murang’a County.
Previous first ladies have raised the same challenge since the county government’s inception, noting that they are in positions of influence but have no role or resources in county matters.
They claimed that the governors themselves are afraid to initiate projects for them because of the negative perception that will result.
