Charity Kaluki Ngilu is a Kenyan politician and the second Kitui County governor elected. Unsuccessfully Charity Ngilu vied to be the President of the Republic of Kenya in 1997. From 2003 to 2007, Ngilu served as a Minister for Health and from April 2008 to 2013 as a Minister of Water and Irrigation. Ngilu also served as Cabinet Secretary for Land, Housing and Urban Development from 2013 to 2015.
Charity Ngilu was born in Mbooni, Makueni County. She attended Alliance Girls High School and then worked as a secretary for Central Bank of Kenya, before becoming an entrepreneur. Ngilu acted as a director of a plastics extrusion factory. Together with late Joyce Laboso and Anne Waiguru, she is among the three women who became Kenya’s first female governors in 2017.
Age
Charity Kaluki Ngilu born in 1952 Mbooni, Makueni County
Charity Kaluki Ngilu Husband
She got married to Michael Mwendwa Ngilu, who died on 1st July, 2006, in South Africa. Together they had three children.
Education
Ngilu did her best in primary school and was admitted to Alliance Girls High School in Kikuyu. In an interview She said that she learnt how to work hard when she was very small. She finished her high school education but she did not make to score enough marks to join the university. Ngilu joined the Government Secretarial College to train as a secretary and got a job with Central Bank of Kenya. Ngilu later joined St. Paul’s University, Nairobi Campus for her Bachelor’s degree.
Charity Kaluki Ngilu Family
Charity Ngilu is from a humble background and so her passion for good leadership made her to join politics. She comes from a family of thirteen children where she is the ninth born child of her parents who lived in Mbooni. Ngilu knew that the only way to escape poverty was through education. She put more effort and admitted to Alliance Girls High School in Kikuyu.
Political Career
In 1992, Charity Ngilu was elected to represent the Kitui central constituency seat on a Democratic Party ticket. Charity was re-elected to the same seat and ran for president in the 1997 general election on a Social Democratic Party of Kenya ticket, finishing fifth and Daniel arap Moi as the first one. She became the first ever female presidential candidate in Kenya, together with Wangari Maathai. She, later, joined National Party of Kenya and in December, 2002 general election, her party was part of the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC). The coalition went on to win the elections, and the President Mwai Kibaki appointed her as Minister of Health when he named his Cabinet. She was also appointed chairperson of NARC.
Charity was seen as a new school member in the government, as opposed to old school members like John Michuki and President Kibaki. She was, however, left stranded after the Liberal Democratic Party left the coalition after the defeat of the Government-sponsored draft constitution, while the remaining members of NARC founded the new Narc-Kenya party led by Martha Karua. Charity Ngilu announced her support for the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) on 5th October, 2007 and its presidential candidate, Raila Odinga, in the December 2007 general election; Ngilu compared Odinga to Nelson Mandela. Charity initially said that she was remaining in the government, despite backing Mwai Kibaki’s main rival. Her dismissal from the government by Kibaki, however, was announced on 6th October, 2007.
In December 2007 parliamentary election, she was re-elected to her seat from Kitui Central. President Mwai Kibaki won the presidential election according to official results, but this was disputed by the ODM, and a violent crisis developed. The crisis was eventually resolved with a power-sharing agreement between the two parties and in the grand coalition Cabinet named on 13th April 2008 and sworn in on 17th April, she was appointed as Minister of Water and Irrigation.
Cherity showed support for Odinga in running for Presidential bid in Kenyan elections 2013. Ngilu later launched a presidential bid through her Narc Political Party, ultimately choosing to run for Kitui County senator and losing to David Musila.
She was named Cabinet Secretary for Land, Housing and Urban Development by president Uhuru Kenyatta, following her failed bid, but Charity resigned from the post following corruption allegations.
