Cabinet Secretary (CS) nominee for Public Service, Gender and Affirmative Action Aisha Jumwa broke down during vetting as she narrated her tough experiences while growing up.
Jumwa faced the parliamentary vetting panel at Town Hall on Tuesday, October 18, 2022.
The Gender CS nominee shed tears while appearing before the National Assembly Committee on appointments as she narrated how she was forced into early marriage because of poverty.
“My parents were poor, they used to struggle to provide for me and my other 27 siblings. I attended primary from 1983 to 1991 where I dropped out due to a lack of school fees. I was at home and there was absolutely no prospect to expand my horizon,” Jumwa said.
Married off
The Gender CS nominee revealed that she was married off after dropping out of school in form two as her parents couldn’t afford to pay fees for all of her 27 siblings.
“Early marriage awaited me with open arms, I became a mother of my firstborn. This is one of the practices that must be curbed,” she said.
Jumwa only went back to school as an adult and sat for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination in 2011 and scored a D-.
“When I lost elections, I reflected and took stock. I went back to school and completed KCSE in 2011. I Proceeded to JKUAT he graduated with Governance in 2022,” she said.
In spite of the tough life she endured as a child, Jumwa managed to make it in life. She told the parliamentary vetting committee that she has a net worth of Ksh100 million.
