Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu in is Nigeria as part of a high-powered international election observer mission for the country’s presidential and National Assembly elections slated for Saturday.
Mrs Ngilu has joined a 38-member delegation led by retired Botswana President Festus Mogae, which will serve under the American based National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI).
She is the only Kenyan political leader to take part in this mission, following nomination by the NDI and the IRI.
In a press statement on Tuesday, the governor’s office she was selected because she’s the senior-most female political leader in the country, having served in various elective capacities.
“Governor Ngilu has been a public servant for more than 27 years, as Member of Parliament for Kitui Central Constituency for four consecutive terms, from 1992 to 2013, and as a Cabinet secretary in the national government of from 2002 to 2015,” the statement said.
It also noted that she is the leader of the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) and that she made history when she became the first woman to run for president in Kenya.
On Wednesday, Ms Ngilu will attend the ceremony for the signing of the National Peace Accord between the leading candidates – President Muhammadu Buharu and his main rival former Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
The signing at the Abuja International Conference Centre will see stakeholders commit to accepting the outcome of the result that the Independent National Electoral Commission will announce.