By Raisa Okwaras
March 16, 2022 marked a notable day in the history of children of Njiru Sub-county as they got a chance to elect in their child leaders under the Kenya Children’s Assembly (KCA).
Formed in 2011, The Kenya Children Assembly is a forum that enables children to express themselves on matters affecting them. It is a platform that fosters and recognizes inclusivity and participation of children in the society.
Child participation is key in today’s world as it recognizes children as active members of the society. With this, they are able to discuss amongst themselves on issues affecting them and how best such issues can be solved with the assistance of leaders in their areas.
Yesterday, we had a beautiful exercise at Ruai Primary School, which was the polling station for the child leaders of Njiru Sub county. In attendance, we had parents, teachers, child organizations as well as IEBC officials who were there to ensure that the election exercise was free, fair, and credible. The exercise took all day long, where voting began at about 1pm.
Issues Affecting Them
When asked to mention some of the issues affecting them as children of Njiru Sub-county, the children were quick to state them.
Some of the issues mentioned include drug abuse, which children forming a great target market for the culprits, the issue of poverty and differences in social classes, and the issue of having no spaces set aside for playgrounds in the city.
The Election Exercise
Only children who stay at Njiru Sub county were allowed to contest and vote. This means that all adults had to do was sit aside and watch the kids get guided by either the practitioners on ground or the IEBC officials. The children were cooperative and this made the exercise to be a success.
Only children aged between 7 and 17 were eligible. For those who were going to be selected, each term lasts for 2 years, where one can go for a second term. However, no elected child leader could hold a seat for more than 2 terms (4 years).
Also, for gender sensitivity purposes, the rule was that if a boy was elected in one person, then automatically, the deputy has to be a female and vice versa.
The Winners
The positions include governor, deputy governor, speaker, deputy speaker, sergeant at arms, deputy sergeant at arms, clerk, and deputy clerk.
We got a glitch in the deputy speaker seat where there was a tie in the gents. The two were asked to come to mutually agree on who should take the position. However, since the two could not come to a consensus, the children had to go back to vote and Wilson Odhiambo won the 2nd voting of the deputy speaker position with 22 new votes.
Here are the newly elected child leaders for Njiru sub-county under the Children’s Assembly;
Governor & Deputy Governor
Governor- Daniel Mutunga (25 votes)
Deputy Governor- Angel Wangeci (8 votes)
Speaker & Deputy Speaker
Speaker- Daisy Njoroge (22 votes)
Deputy Speaker- Wilson Odhiambo (22 new votes during the repeat)
Sergeant at Arms and the Deputies
Sergeant at Arms- Yvonne Makena (17 votes)
Deputy Sergeant at Arms 1- Ruth Wanjiru (11 votes)
Deputy Sergeant at Arms 2- Brian Obama (4 votes)
Clerk and the Deputy Clerk
Clerk- Danston Maitho (18 votes)
Deputy Clerk- Mitchelle Achieng’ (15 votes)
After the winners were awarded, they were congratulated as they received their certificates. They then got a chance to talk to the children who voted for them after which the IEBC official head of the day adjourned the exercise.
We wish the newly elect child leaders of Njiru Sub-county all the best!