The rise and rise of Alice Wahome in politics
Kandara Member of Parliament Alice Wahome has been touted as one of the possible candidates that Deputy President William Ruto can pick as his running mate for the upcoming general election.
Wahome has been one of the staunch supporters of the DP in Murang’a County and at the national level where she has been campaigning for him in his presidential bid.
Should Ruto heed calls by various lobby groups to have presidential aspirants pick female running mates, Wahome would stand a chance.
Her star in leadership started shining between 1991 and 2001 when she was actively involved in advocating for women's and children's rights and later joined the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) where she was elected as the body's vice-chair.
She also served as a council member of the Law Society of Kenya for a period of two years.
In 2007, she joined politics and vied for the Kandara parliamentary seat on NARC Kenya party ticket but she lost.
In 2013, she gave it a second attempt on Jubilee party ticket and she won after trouncing male competitors.
In 2017, she defended her seat which she recaptured despite the protest from one of her closest opponents the late Philp Kamau who claimed she had not won the seat in a fair manner. The court however dismissed the case and Wahome retained the seat.
Under her leadership, Wahome has been credited to be instrumental in spearheading development projects in the area, especially in education and infrastructure.
In parliament, she was the vice-chair of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, a position she was stripped of during an onslaught by the Jubilee party on defiant leaders in 2020.
Wahome shifted to UDA which was founded by Ruto and his close political allies after his fallout with President Uhuru Kenyatta who is the Jubilee party leader.
Her affiliation with Ruto has seen her walk a rough path and on several occasions, she has claimed that the government is using its machinery to intimidate and harass her.
In early 2020, her bodyguards were withdrawn and no explanation was given and the MP claimed her life was in danger.
“I feel threatened and I know there are people planning to attack me due to my firm political stand but no amount of intimidation will make me change my stand. If anything happens to me, the government should be held accountable,” she said then.
Wahome is confident that Ruto will win the August polls and become the country's fifth president.
“I am confident that UDA shall form the next government. We have been selling our bottom-up agenda to the people and we shall implement it to boost the economic development in the country,” she said.
Wahome has also been a sharp critic of the president and has been accusing him of poor leadership which she says has seen the country’s economy deteriorate.
Besides politics, Wahome is a family woman who is married to a renowned gynaecologist Godfrey Wahome and they have four children.
