Sophia Abdhi, DevReporter, Mombasa County
Summary
- Annually, 8 March is the day to commemorate the efforts and achievements by women towards improving their daily lives and making their communities a better place for themselves and humanity as a whole
- The theme for the 2024 celebrations was “INVEST IN WOMEN: ACCELARATE PROGRESS”.
In Mombasa County, the celebration was organised by the Department of Gender, Sports and Youth, with its committee chaired by the county’s CEC, Keneth Ambani.
Various community organisations based in the County were also part of the collaboration, where several joint planning sessions were successful held.
His Excellence, Mombasa County Governor, Abdisamad Sharrif Nassir, graced the event as its chief guest. He was deputised by his counterpart, the Mombasa County Women representative, Zamzam Mohammed.
Also present was the Likoni member of parliament Mishi Juma Mboko and a section of members of the County Assembly led by the majority leader, Athuman Mwamiri
The celebration kicked off with entertainments from different groups. Traditional and modern performing groups warmed the hearts of the guests, who unable to resist the sweet melodies, finally joined in to dance to the tunes.
The 2024 event fell on a Friday, a crucial religious day for majority residents of the County. This prompted the Chief guest to plead for a break in the programme to allow him to give his speech ahead of the allocated time.
Heeding to this request, Mr. Ambani welcomed the governor with a short remark;
“Every leader in the county has a responsibility to empower a woman so that when a day like this comes, we can all showcase and celebrate our progress towards women’s empowerment.”
The Governor then took to the dais, first with cool dance moves before addressing the people.
He begun his speech by sharing some of the remarks he had given at an earlier event held on 14 February, to mark Valentine’s Day. This particular event had been renamed “Dark Valentine”, as a protest to the killing of women that had escalated. The Governor sent out a strong message to end this vice.
Governor Abdisamad further stressed that women were indeed, to be celebrated everyday. He added that to this end, IWD was special, as it was a special day for the full recognition of the efforts made by women. The day was also in celebration of female leaders and everyone who champions for the overall wellbeing of women.
In addition, Gov. Abdisamad acknowledged the hardships that women in Mombasa and Kenya at large, go through to maintain their families. He therefore assured Mombasa residents that his government was committed to its plans for easing women’s burden.
“As Mombasa County, we have plans to ease the burden of women struggling to provide for their families by giving them bursaries and free education to all county ECDE pupils. We have noted that whenever we organise activities for the issuance of bursary forms, a big percentage of those who wake up early to queue for the forms are women/mothers”
On the issues of “Vijana Mashinani” project that started immediately after he took office, the Governor promised to revive the project at the beginning of the holy month of Ramadhan. The aim was to sustain the employment of youth, especially women.
Governor Nassir further informed the gathering that for any employment and internship in the Mombasa County, the service board was to ensure that there was gender balance during the selection stages. He also undertook to release all delayed salaries and funds required to run different activities and projects within the county.
In concluding, Gov Abdisamad handed his chief guest baton to the Mombasa Women Representative, Zamzam Mohammed as he excused himself to go attend another function.
Before exiting though, he promised to forward a woman’s name to the public service board, to be appointed as the first woman to join his team of advisers.
Keneth Ambani then resumed his MC role, as he called upon Mr Geoffrey Githinji who was representing the County Commissioner.
Mr Githinji lauded the police service leadership for championing women’s rights, noting that this effort had now resulted in more women occupying high-ranking positions in the forces and service.
He further urged women to increase their efforts in fighting against drug abuse that had now become a menace in the County.
“I am calling upon all the women to continue being part of all efforts to combat the menace of drug abuse and illicit brew that is destroying the lives of our children,” he concluded.
Topister Juma is a human rights activist based in Mombasa and works with Muslim for Human Rights (MUHURI). Her name is likely to come up in any related activity targeting the community.
In her speech during the 2024 IWD celebrations in Mombasa, Topister acknowledged all the CSOs, including women-led organisations, in the frontline of advocating for women rights in different ways.
She continued by congratulating Zamzam Mohammed, Mombasa Women Rep, for creating a gender desk in her office, and in this ways, has played a major role in efforts to combat Gender Based Violence (GBV).
She also recognised the efforts by the County Government to develop measures for curbing GBV. These have included the setting up of a toll-free number as well as a guidance and counselling desk, all of which now provide free services to GBV survivors.
The podium was then ceded to Madam Ruth, a PWD representative. As a hearing impaired PWD, a sign language interpreter, Nicolas Opondo, interpreted her speech.
While expressing joy for participating in the day’s event, Ruth also shared her thoughts on the plight of women PWDs, who she felt, have been neglected by the community.
“In everything that is to be done in the community, we must always remember the 5% rule in job and tender opportunities, as set out in the constitution,” she emphasized.
Ruth lamented that some of the women PWDs, were often neglected, and even hidden from the public by family members. Yet there were a lot of opportunities available to them. Hence “hiding them away” was denying them their right to inclusion.
“I kindly urge the Majority Leader in the county assembly to work with other members as well as the community, to develop policies that will help PWDs access all available opportunities in the county government”, Ruth concluded.
The first women councillor to who was voted into Mombasa district in the general election of 1982, Madam Margret Olang, was also among the invited guests.
“I can’t hold back tears of joy seeing how much we achieved as women. We fought for this freedom and empowerment and now it is becoming a reality”, Margret Olang said.
She further narrated how women were oppressed and prevented from taking leadership positions, whether at the national or community level.
After her 1982 as the woman councillor of Ganjoni ward, Margaret was re-elected 5 more times, consecutively, thereby keeping her in that leadership position for 25 years.
Among her achievements during this period, is transforming and building the first public primary school, Ganjoni primary.
The Likoni MP, Hon Mishi Mboko then took the stage to chants of “MAMA governor” renting the air at Mkomani grounds.
She began her speech by first acknowledging women leaders in different political administrations. She also recognised members of the civil society who continue to play their leadership roles in improving livelihoods.
“I celebrate every woman, and more so, I celebrate my good friend and Mombasa Women Rep, Zamzam Mohammed, who has truly defined the meaning of a woman leader,” She went on.
She added that it was not advisable for women to simply wait to be chosen as running mates. If possible, they should also garner for the main seats and even choose their fellow women as running mates, just like men have done over the decades.
“A time will come when the Two-thirds Gender rule will become useful to men. This is when women and other like-minded people finally take positive advantage of women’s numbers, statistically proven to be larger than men’s, an vote in more women”, she said.
Hon Mboko urged both speakers and committee chairs to quickly implement all reposts that have been developed for women’s empowerment.
The song “I am a super woman” by the Tanzanian female artist lead by Zucchi, provided a transition as Mishi Mboko led the gathering in welcoming the Mombasa Women Representative, Zamzam Mohammed.
The vocal Women Rep joined in the singing and dancing before delivering her speech that touched on different topics including politics, economic and development.
Mama Zamzam, also commonly known as JIKE SIMBA (lioness), begun by acknowledging all Coastal female leaders, including the first Governor of Kwale County, Hon. Fatma Achani.
Mama Zamzam also advised women not to wait for men to create opportunities for them. They should rather aim to create such spaces for themselves.
She also advised women leaders not to be selfish, and that they should instead, aim to mentor fellow women to help increase opportunities for women’s success. She noted as a good example, the efforts by Likoni MP Mishi Mboko, who has mentored many young girls and contributed to the increase of female MCA in Mombasa County assembly, following the 2022 general election.
The woman leader said that she would continue supporting women groups by helping them secure funds to start businesses. She also offered to secure sponsorship for survivors of early pregnancy to aid their return to school. She shared that this effort had so far, sponsored a total of 350 such girls who are now, also being mentored and monitored.
The celebrations ended with Hon. Zamzam giving awards to some of the woman and men who continue to champion for women rights. The awardees included journalists who have played key roles in achieving this. The group was represented by Farhiya Hussein who received a certificate of recognition for her efforts in using her journalistic skill well.
The event ended with speakers emphasising the importance of implementing all recommendations made, as well as a thorough follow-up on every promises and pledges.
