What kind of support do women political activists get from their parties?
FT: After the attack, my party (Orange Ddemocratic Movement-ODM-Kenya) gave me a direct free nomination to contest the seat. Overall, the party backed me fully and was very supportive during my ordeal. However, at the level of policymaking and internal organisation, all three main political partiesthe Party of National Unity (PNU), ODM of Prime Minister Raila Odinga and ODM-Kenya of Vice-president Kalonzodo not go beyond hollow words. All three parties have beautiful manifestos on women issues. But in practice politics in Kenya and within all parties is still run as a ‘big boys club’. Each party has a women’s wing which, on paper, sounds great but in reality serves to sideline women politicians and stop them from taking part in actual decision-making. All important decisions are taken in late night meetings by small cliques of men over a drink. IPS: What triggered the wave of violence that followed the December 27 elections? FT: The skirmishes were not spontaneous; they were planned an
