Ms President is a reality TV show where contestants of the show portray to the national audience the capacity and ability of women to lead effectively. The women are taken through tasks and challenges where they display their capacity to lead. The aim is to increase women in Kenya taking up leadership positions for the government is tasked with the challenge of bridging the gap of the two-thirds rule which is an affirmative action aiming to reduce gender imbalances in leadership positions where no more than two-thirds of the members in any elective positions shall be of the same gender.
Several women leaders owe their success to the show whereby their leadership positions were not available to them before like Betty Adera who represented Nairobi and is now the president of KANU Political Part Women Congress and Patron of the Young Women’s Forum in Africa by the Africa Youth Trust, Nadia Abdalla who represented Mombasa was appointed the role of CAS in the ministry of ICT and Liner Mavu of Taita Taveta was appointed by the outgoing president Uhuru Kenyatta to The Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee.
"Put yourself out there, you need to believe in yourself, you need to look for opportunities that exist so that you meet other people who will be your destiny connectors."
Mary Mutula, Ms President of Machakos County
We had the chance to talk with Mary Mutula who is representing Machakos county in the #OVAReactPodcast and we have chosen to highlight some of the key qualities we learnt from her about what a good leader should possess!
Leaders should be empathetic…
Mary states that one thing she advocates for is kindness and puts emphasis on the importance of having leaders who are empathetic with the ability to relate to the community because this leads them to understand what people want.
Leadership is not about the individual leading…
Leadership is about the one thing you can do to make a change within your household and can also be implemented nationally to positively benefit others within their communities and create sustainable development.
Leaders rise by lifting others
Leadership journey can on most occasions feel lonesome but the key is that when rising you don’t forget those who put you up in that position but include them to take the journey together.
Listen to the full episode of the #OVAReactPodcast with Mary accessible through the links below. You can also tune in to Capital FM on Mondays at 10.30 pm EAT to listen to the episodes LIVE on air!
Google Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy82YjVkZDQ0NC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiY2ZWc-Jv6AhUugc4BHT0oA4wQ4aUDegQIARAD