Wavinya Ndeti (born 3 November 1967) is a Kenyan politician who has been chairlady of the governing council of the Kenya Water Institute since 7 February 2019. She previously served as a Member of Parliament for the Kathiani Constituency in the 10th Kenyan parliament. She was the first and so far only woman to have represented the constituency since independence. She was a WDM-K candidate for Machakos Governor in 2017, having contested the seat previously in 2013 on the CCU ticket, but lost on both occasions to incumbent Alfred Mutua.
Wavinya is a Kenyan politician from Machakos County. She joined politics in 2007 as the Member of Parliament for Kathiani Constituency under the Chama Cha Uzalendo (CCU) party.
Her win in 2007 was historic since she was the first woman to represent Kathiani in parliament since Kenya got independence.
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Honorable
Wavinya Ndeti
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| Assistant Minister Youth And Sports serving with Kabando wa Kabando | |
| In office 3 April 2008 – 9 April 2013 |
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| President | Mwai Kibaki |
| Prime Minister | Raila Odinga |
| Minister | Helen Sambili (3 April 2008 – August 2010) Paul Otuoma (August 2010 – 9 April 2013) |
| Preceded by | Judah Ole Metito |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Member of Parliament for Kathiani | |
| In office 29 December 2007 – 4 March 2013 |
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| President | Mwai Kibaki |
| Prime Minister | Raila Odinga |
| Preceded by | Peter Kyalo Kaindi – NARC |
| Succeeded by | Robert Mbui – WDM-K |
| Chairlady for Kenya Water Institute | |
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Incumbent
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| Assumed office 8 February 2019 |
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| President | Uhuru Kenyatta |
| Cabinet Secretary (Water) | Simon Chelugui |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 November 1967 Machakos, Kenya |
| Nationality | Kenyan |
| Political party | Chama Cha Uzalendo (2007–2017) WDM-K (2017-Present) |
| Other political affiliations |
Party of National Unity (Kenya) (Coalition partner) (2008–2012) Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (2012–2017) National Super Alliance (2017–present) |
| Spouse(s) |
Henry Oduwale
(m. 1990; died 2016) |
| Children | 3 |
| Parents |
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| Residence | Machakos |
| Alma mater | South Bank University, (BSC, Graduate Diploma, Advanced Diploma in computer science) |
| Website | www |
| Nickname(s) | Osa Vinya na Wavinya |
Her election was also a surprise since she had participated in the Orange Democratic Movement Kenya (ODM-K) party primaries and lost forcing her to settle for CCU.
During her tenure as the MP, she was appointed as an Assistant Minister for Youth and Sports where she worked under Helen Sambili.
In 2013, she vied for the newly founded gubernatorial post in Machakos but lost to Alfred Mutua.
In 2017, she left CCU to join the Wiper Party which is led by Kalonzo Musyoka. Under the arrangement, she was to be supported by the party to defeat Mutua who defended his gubernatorial seat on a Maendeleo Chap Chap party.
She, however, lost the elections again to Mutua. The High Court overturned Mutua’s win but the Supreme Court upheld the IEBC decision that Mutua had emerged the winner.
In 2020, President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed Wavinya as the Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) for the Transport Ministry.
She has in the past served as Chair of the Kenya Water Institute.
As the CAS, she has been involved in revamping the Boda Boda sector with initiatives such as the issuance of insurance to the operators. The operators have also been provided with multiple training on safety and traffic rules since it is a fast-growing industry but often face road safety challenges.
Wavinya also took the personal initiative to participate in the recently concluded Kenyan Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) in a bid to motivate the candidates She has also been at the forefront of ensuring that the government adheres to the 2/3 gender rule as spelt out in the constitution.
Political history
Wavinya Ndeti joined politics in 2007 contesting and being elected MP for the Kathiani Constituency under Chama Cha Uzalendo. She had previously participated in the ODM-Kenya primaries, which she claimed were rigged in favor of incumbent legislator Peter Kyalo Kaindi, forcing her to switch to Chama Cha Uzalendo. She eventually won a landslide victory, garnering 28,178 votes against Kaindi’s 9,813. In winning the seat, Ndeti became the only woman to have represented the constituency in Parliament since independence.
Ndeti was appointed to a grand coalition government as a Co-assistant Minister for Youth and Sports under Helen Sambili.
During the 2010 constitutional referendum she supported the new constitution, citing the importance of having a uniform distribution of resources and having decentralized leadership. Although the document was unpopular in the Machakos District, the majority of Kenyans voted in favour of the new constitution, which President Mwai Kibaki promulgated on 27 August 2010.
2013 and 2017 elections
Ndeti, one of the founding members of CORD, ran for the newly created office of Governor of Machakos on a CCU ticket in 2013. She picked former Water and Natural Resources minister Mutua Katuku as her running mate.
She lost the bid to Alfred Mutua and subsequently lost the election petition on grounds she failed to appoint enough party agents to all polling stations.
In 2017, Ndeti and Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana pledged to rejoin Wiper Democratic Movement under a brokered agreement known as the Emali Declaration. In the declaration, Kibwana was to defend his seat on the Wiper Democratic Movement and Ndeti would be given a direct ticket to unseat Mutua.
Wiper Democratic Movement-Kenya
Ndeti ditched Chama Cha Uzalendo for Wiper on the morning of 5 April 2017, in line with the law that requires candidates to change political parties within 90 days of an election. Initially, she was handed direct nomination with Peter Mathuki as running mate, but the party decided to hold primaries.
The deal had been a product of months of negotiations between the Wiper Party and Ndeti’s CCU party, with Kalonzo said to have prevailed upon Mathuki and Machakos Deputy Governor Bernard Kiala to compromise their ambitions in favour of a ticket that would send Mutua home and win back the seat to the party.
Muthama, the incumbent senator, announced that he would not defend his seat in the 2017 Kenya general elections on the Wiper ticket.
This led to the WDM-K NEB awarding a direct nomination to former Machakos County Secretary for Education Jackson Kala to represent the party in the Senate election.
Ndeti was cleared to run for Governor by the IEBC in early June 2017.
Ndeti on 9 June challenged the ruling at the High Court.
High Court Judge George Vincent Odunga stayed the IEBC tribunal decision. On 14 June 2017, the judge rejected a petition by the IEBC to disqualify himself. Kiala decided to run as an independent.
Criticism
In April 2019, the Nairobi News website by Nation media posted reactions by Kenyans to criticism of Ndeti’s views on the post-partum care she received after the birth of her elder son Charles while in the UK
