The member of Parliament for Kandara, Alice Wahome is on course to work for a man she has wholeheartedly supported and fiercely defended from attacks by top officials of the previous Kenyan regime.
The long-time ally of President William Ruto is poised to head the Water, Sanitation and Irrigation docket, a ministry essential in the implementing the Kenya Kwanza manifesto.
Ruto has pointed out that water is essential input to Kenya’s dynamic economic activity be it agriculture, industry, energy production or wildlife tourism.
Kenya Kwanza intends to shift focus from large dams to household-community water projects, with emphasis on harvesting and recycling.
In order to achieve raising access to water from the current 60 per cent to 80 per cent, Ruto said Sh500 billion is required.
“The government can provide this gradually, but the private sector can mobilise it all at once,” Ruto told a joint sitting of the House.
“We will thus adopt a Public Private Partnership framework by entering into water purchase agreements with investors,” he said.
Wahome, a harsh critic of former President Uhuru Kenyatta, will lead the drive. She will be interviewed last by MPs on the first day of the vetting that begins on Monday. She will appear at 3.30pm.
She has been a faithful soldier of Ruto and the United Democratic Alliance Party by popularising the Ruto’s candidature in the vote-rich Mt Kenya region.
She offered herself as a potential running mate for Ruto.
During the burial of multi-party activist Charles Rubia on December 30, 2019, Wahome shocked the country when she told off Uhuru over his style of leadership.
“This country under your rule is degenerating into a dictatorship and freedoms that were fought hard for by the likes of Kenneth Matiba and Charles Rubia are being eroded by the day,” she said.
She became synonymous with the attacks against the previous regime and was Ruto’s intrepid foot soldier in Mt Kenya.
Wahome attended Karumu Primary, Bishop Gatimu Ngandu Girls and Siakago High schools before she proceeded to University of Nairobi for her law degree.