This is the first time I’ve been jobless since 1985 – Alice Wahome

Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development Cabinet Secretary nominee Alice Wahome is jobless for the first time in the last near 40 years of her life.

Ms. Wahome made the revelation on Thursday when she appeared before the National Assembly’s Committee on Appointments for vetting.

Whereas unemployment is a menace that millions of Kenyans have struggled with for years, Ms. Wahome – who is 65 years old – it would appear, has not had much of that experience.

After being informed by Committee Chair and Speaker Moses Wetangula that all her documents were in order, a jovial Ms. Wahome said; “It’s a relief Mr. Speaker, you know I am jobless and I need the job. Since 1985…this is one unique time when I am jobless, and I do appreciate the opportunity to be before the committee.”

According to the Parliament website, the former Kandara MP graduated from the University of Nairobi with Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) in 1984, then immediately went on to the Kenya School of Law which she left with a Postgraduate Diploma in Law in 1985.

From then on, Ms. Wahome has not tasted the sour taste of joblessness – or ‘tarmacking’ as unemployed youthful Kenyans call it, due to the amount of walking the streets involved while seeking work.

She started working at the Attorney General’s Chambers as State Counsel that very year, and served for three years, before she set up her own practice in 1989, and thereafter was elected to Parliament.

She served as Kandara Constituency lawmaker for two terms until 2022, when she was tapped by President William Ruto to take over the Water ministry.

She was, barely a year later, moved to the Lands docket and Zechariah Njeru picked for her docket in a swap.

Ms. Wahome’s first taste of joblessness since she left the Kenya School of Law came just last month when President Ruto – in a landmark decision – fired his entire Cabinet after weeks of anti-government protests led by the youth.

In the July 11, 2024 decision, President Ruto said he decided to let go of all his ministers "upon reflection, listening keenly to what the people of Kenya have said and after a holistic appraisal of the performance of the cabinet and its achievements and challenges."

The Head of State would however re-nominate her back to the very same ministry he had fired her from only a week later, ending her presumably very short stint of unemployment.

And, just like that, it would seem that Alice is back in Wonderland!