Kirinyaga Woman Representative Purity Ngirici has lost her job as the chair of The Kenya Women Parliamentary Association (KEWOPA).
KEWOPA is a membership association for all women parliamentarians drawn from across all political parties both elected and nominated in the Senate and National Assembly.
65 out of 97 KEWOPA MPs on Tuesday, July 7, voted to eject Ngirici as chairperson and replace her with Kiambu Woman Rep Gathoni wa Muchomba.
She will be deputised by Kisumu Woman Representative Roza Buyu and Nominated Senator Millicent Omanga.
Likoni MP Mishi Mboko serves as the secretary-general and is deputised by Charity Chepkwony.
Ngirici has been Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru’s fiercest critic.
She supported MCAs’ plan to impeach the governor and her husband also joined the call to remove Waiguru.
On June 13, Andrew Ngirici was summoned by police in Mwea East Sub-County and was grilled for two hours.
He had threatened to organise protests if the Senate chose to put the fate of Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru in the hands of an 11-member committee.
The association was founded by Nominated Senator Beth Mugo, Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu and former Justice Minister Martha Karua.
KEWOPA has been spearheading the push for the realisation of the two-thirds gender principle as proposed by the Constitutional Amendment Bill 2015 (No. 4).
It was previously introduced as a private members bill by former KEWOPA Chair Cecily Mbarire in the National Assembly and Senator Judith Achieng in the Senate.
The group has trained over 300 women members of the county assembly and community leaders on the gender-responsive budgeting guidelines and political party participation under the National Democratic Institute Programme.
