Widows in Siaya County are pushing for elective leadership positions to enable them fully address their plight.
They have vowed to use their numbers to ensure that they get elective positions in the County Assembly in the forthcoming General Election.
The over 10,000 widows in Siaya say they need leaders who can push widows’ agenda to better their lives.
Through RONA Foundation, an NGO that champions for protection and advancement of widow’s rights in Kenya, the widows drafted and presented a policy framework, aimed at addressing their rights to the outgoing County Assembly.
Speaking during the policy education forum for Siaya county widows in Bondo Sub-county, RONA Foundation Director, Roselyn Orwa, said that it is only through legislation that structures and resources can be allocated to address the plight of widows in the region.
Orwa stated that having widows representation at the Assembly, will make it easy for adoption of the policy by the next government after the passing of various legislation.
“Already we have begun pre-election lobbying, where we want the leaders to know and understand the widow’s agenda,” Orwa said.
She disclosed that currently there are five widows running for various elective seats in the County and the widows are ready to back their bids, as they are best suited to understand their needs.
Orwa revealed that besides the elective positions, they have also forwarded names of eight other widows to the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Election Board to be considered for nomination.
“We are not settling for elective seats alone, we also seek nomination slots and we have forwarded a list of eight names to ODM, because we are a minority group, just like People Living with Disability” she added.
The RONA Director observed that with over 8 million widows in the country and about 10,000 of them in Siaya County, widows can no longer be ignored.
“Our numbers are our negotiating tool and therefore we need to be included into leadership positions to address the needs of our people” Orwa said.
Beatrice Akinyi Okoth and Monica Adhiambo Oniare are among the fifty widow leaders in Siaya County who attended policy education forum, noting that upon adoption, the policy will not only give them economic empowerment through jobs, but also address widow land right issues in the region.
“As young widows without jobs, we struggle financially to raise our families. We need funds from the government to support us and job opportunities to earn a living to raise our families,” said Akinyi, whose hopes cling on the adoption of the Policy.
“Widows have no rights to own land here in Siaya. The title deeds remain in the names of our late husband’s and we are at the mercy of our in-laws. The succession expense is too high for us and we are therefore condemned to poverty. If the policy is adopted by the next government, widows will breathe a sigh of relief,” Adhiambo said.