Are these women ready to weather the storm?

• Young women are jumping onto the campaign trail in this year’s polls. How prepared are they to face the terrain ahead? And what can they do to navigate the odds?
  

We have all seen how politicians behave in public rallies. They are voluble, intimidating and are prone to pick and spread propaganda like bush fire.

Many voters may be no better. They scramble for money, yell and shout down rival candidates and beat up opponents.

At best, they will make disparaging remarks about a candidate in broad daylight.

Generally, the political scene is vicious and only the strong at heart will have the temerity to go all the way.

This year, the constitution has seen to it that more opportunities are available to women.

County positions include the governor, senator, women’s and youth representative. Then there are parliamentary and county representative seats.

Many women have already heard the call and stepped forward to do so. But can they navigate the dirty, murky waters that have felled male politicians more experienced than them?

Just how many women out there have already rolled up their sleeves, ready for battle? And just what are some of the things they have to contend with?

Battling critics

Kingwa Kamencu is one of them. At 28, she is the youngest presidential candidate and second female after Martha Karua to declare her candidacy for this position.

When she declared her candidature, she did so amidst tears at a press conference that was widely panned, with her critics baptising her the Crying President, a perception she is will fight at every turn.

"Crying is good. Jesus also wept. It just showed how dear Kenya is to me,” she rebuffs her critics.

Kingwa is yet to hit the campaign trail at the grassroots. “I am networking before I hit the ground running,” says the Master’s degree holder in Africa Studies from Oxford University.

But her first hurdles are to fight the perception that she isn’t ripe for State House, coupled by the fact she is still single.

"I believe, there are no dreams for certain ages. What is important are the ideas I have,” she says.

Financially, she is hoping to raise Sh1 billion for her campaign kitty – which is spare change for a presidential campaign.

She says this is because she won’t be dishing out money “like other candidates do. It has taken a lot of bravery to be a presidential aspirant. People tend to concentrate more on what you do not have and not what you are offering,” she observes.

She cuts the figure of a diva, represents a young woman with great ideas, which is likely to endear her to the youth vote.