LAMU, Kenya, July 25 (Reuters) – Most Kenyan candidates find their way into politics by navigating the corridors of power in one of the country’s major established parties.
Health activist Umra Omar is hoping to chart her way to office through a different route – through the mangrove exchanges and inlets of her country’s Lamu archipelago.
She has run the Safari Doctors charity for the past seven years, using small, brightly painted boats to zip into Lamu to take free medical care to people in some of its most remote villages.
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Now she says she doesn’t just want to plug holes in the system — she wants to change it. So she is a candidate for the governor of the county in the elections of August 9 for the small party Safina, originally founded by the conservationist Richard Leaky.
The 39-year-old faces significant challenges, particularly from the established incumbent governor of Lamu, Yasin Twaha, who is from President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party. To see also : That’s what led to a record 5.4 million business applications last year.
He lacks the infrastructure of a major political organization, but has a clear campaign focus in the coastal county known for both its multimillion-dollar vacation homes and poor villages.
The maternal mortality rate is 676 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared to 495 nationally, according to the African Institute for Development Policy.
There are two clinical officers per 100,000 people, compared to 21 in the country.
“My journey into politics was greatly influenced by our health care initiative here in Lamu,” he said.
Omar promised to launch a health audit in his first month if elected, saying that three out of six people seeking treatment are referred outside the county because the facilities are so inadequate.
Governor Lamu Twaha did not respond to requests for comment on the health situation.
His other priorities include training young people to work in a new port that is being built in the county, cleaning up the rubbish that blows around the 700-year-old Lamu Town – a World Heritage Site full of old Swahili buildings – and build a different administration. .
If elected, she will become the first female governor of Lamu. Currently only three of Kenya’s 47 county governors are women. There are also far fewer female lawmakers in Kenya than in neighboring Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia.
“We need women in these areas making decisions around matters that affect our lives, our bodies, our children and the next generation,” Omar said.
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Reporting by Edwin Waita, Writing by Ayenat Mersie; edited by Katharine Houreld, Josie Kao and Andrew Heavens See the article : After a year of historic political gains, black women continue to push toward governors.
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