THE POLITICAL LIFE OF ALICEN CHELAITE, 1945–2007

Abstract

There exist a people - outstanding people - doomed to be remembered less for themselves than their entanglement in history made by others. Alicen Chelaite was one of these, a devoted wife and exemplary mother, an assiduous and effective campaigner for women rights in Kenya.This study endeavours to examine the political life of Alicen Chelaite. It was guided by three objectives: to examine the early life of Alicen Chelaite,1945-1977, to investigate Alicen Chelaite’s life during the Moi regime,1978-2002 and to analyse Alicen Chelaite’s life and times during the Kibaki’s regime ,2003-2007. Chelaite was born in 1945 and in 1951 joined Kapropita Primary School. From 1961, she served in various secretarial capacities before joining active politics in 1979 when she was appointed a councillor for Nakuru. Subsequently, she became the first woman Mayor of Nakuru in 1996 and later in 2002 as a Member of Parliament for Rongai and afterwards as an assistant minister before retiring from active politics in 2007. Alicen Chelaite is a true example of a heroine: despite her humble educational background, she represents a majority of women whose contributions are not aptly captured by historians notwithstanding her onerous role of surmounting the obsolete social norms and obstacles from the deep-seated patriarchal Kalenjin community. The main objective of this study was to examine the life of Alicen Chelaite from 1945 to 2007. To achieve this, historical research design was used to evaluate and analyse data that were obtained from both primary and secondary sources. Primary data for this study was sought from the Kenya National Archives and the Parliament archives in Nairobi. This was complemented by data gathered through oral interviews with relevant informants, including her existing lifetime friends, relatives, family members, Members of Parliament who worked with her and local administrators. The informants were identified through purposive sampling. Secondary data was sought from the internet, Laikipia University Library, Egerton University Library, the University of Nairobi Library and Kenya National Library Services. The study employed Great man, subaltern and feminism theory. The three theories were used to give a true picture of Chelaite as a female leader in the Kenyan political arena. Three analytical frames were used to analyse the collected data. They included theoretical reflection, documentary review and content analysis. This analysis of Chelaite’s biography thus contributes to the body of knowledge as it added to growing historiography of biographies in Kenya.