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Monica Muthoni Marubu made history in the August 9, 2022 General Election when, aged 30, she became the youngest woman representative to win the highly contested Lamu seat in Kenya. Running as an independent, she defeated five opponents-most of them older, more experienced politicians-garnering 16,480 votes against runner-up Nana Mohamed Mote's 13,174. Monica is now serving her first term.
Speaking last Friday, she admitted that the journey has not been easy for a young politician, but maintained that she has achieved far more than her counterparts in many other counties. She cites, among her landmark achievements, the introduction of Lamu's first-ever artificial limb fitment programme. The initiative has enabled people living with disabilities (PWDs)-many of whom had long been forgotten-to access prosthetic limbs free of charge.
According to Monica, individuals who once begged on the streets or lived in isolation over the loss of limbs now have prostheses that have restored their independence and ability to earn a living. “I came up with the initiative after seeing one individual selling lemons on the streets of Mpeketoni but had no legs or hands. I took him for prosthetic limb fitting and later announced countywide that people in similar conditions would receive support," she explains.
"We've done the first lot of 12 PWDs. The programme is ongoing, quarterly, every year. The plan is to reach every physically challenged person in Lamu before 2027."
She adds that through the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (Ngaaf), her office has significantly increased funding to groups involving youth, women and PWDs. Previously, groups received as little as Sh30,000-Sh50,000. Under Monica's leadership, no group receives less than Sh100,000 ($770) . More than Sh9 million ($70k) has so far been disbursed across the county-from Witu, at the border with Tana River, to Kiunga on the Kenya-Somalia border.
In addition to empowering youth groups, her office provides construction toolkit to graduates from technical and vocational institutes, donates car wash machines to self-help groups, and supplies goats, tents and tailoring machines to women and youth groups. Market traders and boda boda operators get free umbrellas to help them work in all weather conditions. "My office is committed to achieving socioeconomic goals for women, youth and PWDs. We want to foster financial stability," she says.
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