Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris has set the internet on fire in Kenya after likening herself to the United States Vice-President-Elect, Kamala Harris.
Passaris said that it was her persuasion coach, Juliet Erickson, who a few years ago told her about Harris, saying that they were a lot alike.
“I had no idea who she was. But was told she had presidential ambitions. I started paying attention to her career especially after my coach called me and said, ‘By the way you have something in common. You both born on October 20, 1964,'” the Woman Rep said on her Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Since then, Passaris said that she has been tracking Harris’s career and will draw on her success for inspiration.
Before venturing into politics, Passaris was widely known in Nairobi County for her work in the Adopt-A-Light programme.
This week, Joe Biden’s VP achievements have provided inspiration to many women across the world.
Harris’s education, as well as career growth, is one to envy, having schooled at a Black Ivy League college, Howard University, and then at the University of California, Hastings College, for her law degree.
With her ascension to the vice presidency, Harris will become the first woman and first Black-South Asian woman to hold that office, a milestone for a nation that is still grappling with racial injustice.
But Passaris’s likening herself to Harris seems to have rubbed a section of her online followers the wrong way, given that the two women’s resumes aren’t necessarily similar despite sharing a mixed heritage.
Harris, for instance, worked her way from a deputy attorney (prosecutor) in Oakland, rising through the ranks to become a district attorney and state attorney, again making history as the first female and first African-American woman to hold that position in California’s history.
Seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party, Harris was recruited to run for a Senate seat as the holder, Barbara Boxer, was retiring, a post she easily won in the 2016 election.
Based on their comments, Kenyans were not convinced that Passaris should have likened herself to the trailblazer, with many of them saying she should have limited herself to congratulating the American leader instead of making the post about herself.
As a first-term County MP, Passaris is expected to list some of her achievements and vision for Nairobi City before likening herself to Harris.
But the MP did receive several kind remarks, with some urging her to aim higher as Harris did.
