Politics is a dirty and difficult game. This has been a season of sleepless nights, blackmail, manipulation, conniving, arm-twisting and tireless negotiations as politicians seek party nominations and eventual elective posts.

The dirty nature of these intricate processes makes it a difficult task for women, locking out many and what with the women living with disabilities.

Discrimination, cultural perceptions, and structural, socioeconomic, and institutional barriers stand in the way of women and are major obstacles to achieving equity in accordance with the constitution.

Charity Chahasi knows this too well. She lives with a physical disability and has to depend on clutches for her movements. And for several months, Chahasi vigorously campaigned hoping to be the next Member of the County Assembly of Freetown Ward, Mombasa county.

Accessibility challenge

“The situation is twice challenging for Women With Disability (WWD) seeking these elective post in murky Kenya’s politics.

 “I had lived in this area for years and the previous leadership had failed on its mandate. That is why I announced my candidacy because I intended to change the situation in the area,” Chahasi stated.

She was determined to be the first woman with disability to be elected to the county assembly. Her campaigns involved moving around with difficulties using her crutches and by the time she was done with the day’s activities, she would have sores all over her arms and legs because of the struggle to access remote areas within the ward she hoped to represent.

At times, she had to rely on her aides and well-wishers to assist her reach inaccessible areas.

“Imagine putting aside your dignity and having someone lift or carry you like a toddler to enable you access some areas or even podiums?” she poses.

This meant unlike her abled counterparts, Chahasi could not go out to campaign without her friends or aides lest she fell in unsafe hands in the name of giving her assistance.

Her candidacy was also not received well by some members of the society who used her disability to campaign against her.

“My opponents would tell the voters not to vote for me because I would get a through pass to parliament as a nominated Person With Disability (PWD). This was a perceptistruggling to get rid of,” she says

With Kenya’s election campaigns being among one of the most expensive campaigns in the world, Chahasi, a human rights defender, felt the pinch of not having weighty and deep pockets.

Dream cut short

She says Kenya’s politics has normalised handouts and her financial muscle could not allow her to be “philanthropic” to her electorates. “I made it clear to the voters that I had no money to give them, but assured them of life-changinge changing projects when elected, ” she notes.

 However, her dreams were cut short by what she terms discriminatory demands against her by her political party.

“Many political parties announced a waiver on nomination fees for women, youths and PWDs including her party. I was, however, told to pay close to Ksh25,000 to cater for registration, nomination and so many things they could not clearly explain,

“All these demands were being made a day before the closure of nomination process, yet I had been visiting the office for clearance for weeks,” she added.

Further, she says the frustrations were premeditated and intentionally aimed at locking her out of the race.

 “I had to drop my bid because I was exhausted by all the frustrations. I’m sure they frustrated me based on my gender and also my disability,” she alleged.