“Dont expect Preferential treatment” Rosemary Odinga urges Women

Rosemary Odinga, daughter of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has dismissed those flashing the gender card whenever women face public scrutiny in the line of duty and called on women leaders not to expect preferential treatment when issues of accountability of their offices are raised.

Speaking to Miss Anne Kiguta of K24 TV on Punchlines programme, Rosemary who was recently appointed a senior official in the Ministry of Public Service and Gender has called on both male and female leaders to let due process take its course whenever they face scrutiny for possible misconduct. She said that she trusted that the institutions handling the impeachment proceeding facing Kirinyaga governor Anne Waiguru would be able to arrive at a fair decision after considering all the facts,

Ms Odinga also defended her family from accusation of being dynasties and said that the Odinga family force themselves on the people but just sell their ideas to the people just like other politicians. When asked whether she intends to return to politics, Rosemary said that it’s too early to talk about 2022 elections and urged Kenyans to focus on the problems facing the country such as covid 19.

Rosemary, who was eyeing the Kibra parliamentary seat in the 2017 General Election, had to shelve her political ambitions to seek treatment after suffering stroke.  During the exclusive interview, Rosemary narrated how her troubles started in the year 2017 at a workshop for women political aspirants in Naivasha where she was with her two daughters.

“My head was just aching. I just had headaches, headaches,” said Rosemary.

After collapsing in her room, she was airlifted to Nairobi where the doctors upon seeing her said she was lucky for had she been transported in an ambulance she may not have made it.  “It was something new to me. I had a tumour and two aneurysms. They were able to clip the two aneurysms here in Kenya but they were unable to get to the tumour,” she said.   Due to the unavailability of expertise locally that could handle her case, she had to be rushed to South Africa and later to China where they were able to get the tumor removed.

Commenting on the handshake between her father and President Kenyatta, Rosemary who accompanied the President and her father to the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC in February this year said she had been calling on both the President and the former Prime Minister to work together for the sake of the country and was happy that they were able to do just that.

Rosemary is the eldest living daughter to the ODM leader and is touted as the political heir apparent to her father. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology (Criminal Justice) from Howard University in Washington D.C, USA and an MBA in Business Marketing from the University of Dallas in Texas, USA.  She is also an entrepreneur, farmer and mentor to the youth in Kenya. In the year 2015, Rosemary represented Kenya at the International Young Leaders Assembly organized by the Global Peace Foundation where she spoke at the United Nation Assembly.