Wambui Otieno

It seems Mrs Wambui Otieno Mbugua is still fighting battles even in death. I could not believe my eyes when I read in the press that the Umira Kager clan is actually trying to bury her in Nyalgunga! What the ....! But again I could see from the TV footage that somehow she anticipated this. What with her grave already dug and her wishes clearly spelled out in black and white?

One thing I do admire about her though, is her guts. Her daring acts did indeed expand the space for Kenyan women to do some things they never thought they would do. Even though I was just a little girl at the time she fought a court battle with Joka Umira Kager over the burial place of her late husband, it was a lesson that a woman can indeed fight for what she thinks is right.

Growing up in a house where I heard my dad almost everyday, telling my brother "Otieno ae jikon" urging him to get out of the woman's space, in a way, claiming sons like "Otieno" my brother who shares the same name as Wambui's late husband, had more important things to do than hanging around the kitchen with girls and their mothers, kind of reinforced the idea that they are of a superiour breed. But the SM case, kept one woman in the headlines for a long time. Yes, I realised, our issues also do matter in the national press.

Being in the headlines, Wambui was a reminder that yes, even though you fight for what you want and don't get it, you can always keep your head up.

I loved her marriage to Mbugua. It went to show that women don't need to hide behind the veils that society creates for them. After her marriage that shocked many Kenyans, it soon became normal as many women went public with their marriages to younger men. I remember once when I was an intern reporter, some angry men called my workplace, wanting reporters to go and see a case where an old woman had apparently bewitched a young man to be her lover. They were ready to lynch her and she was held at a local chief's camp in Githurai. As I investigated, I found out both parties were adults, over 25 years old...it was a non story, save to advise the local community that there was nothing wrong if the two were consenting adults....just like Wambui Otieno.

Wambui might not know it, but she was a role model to many people. may she rest in peace.