David Ndii's wife Mwende Gatabaki bets on Rosy CV to become Kiambu Governor

In a recent interview with Nation, Mwende stated that after being head hunted by President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2014, she is now ripe to become the next governor of Kiambu.

She left a lucrative job as a senior advisor to the African Development Bank President to serve in the Jubilee government as the director general of the Kenya Citizens and Foreign Nationals Management Services where she led a team of 9 directors to create the eCitizen and Huduma Centers.

Mwende Gatabaki Pulse Live Kenya

Mwende said she was born and raised in Kiambu which at the time was leading in terms of education and agriculture and now wants the county to live up to its potential.

“My desire as governor is to focus on these challenges and take Kiambu back to the position where it used to be,” she said.

Her agenda for the county is based on three pillars which are youth economic empowerment, scale up smallholder agriculture and mitigating climate change.

She is yet to announced what party she will be vying on but has asked voters to consider candidates on their merit instead of voting for parties.

The accomplished policy expert reminded Kenyans of the mistakes made in 2017 whereby many undeserving leaders were elected based on party affiliation.

Mwende explained that she is inspired by her parents who were among the Mau Mau freedom fighters.

She is the daughter of Senior Chief Peter Gatabaki of Thakwa who is also a former Githunguri MP.

“My father was a senior chief and my mother a community development officer. They are my role models and mentors. I say to myself the time is now to take over from where they left,” she said.

Mwende joins the list of candidates who are gunning for the coveted Kiambu governor seat such as incumbent James Nyoro, William Kabogo, Senator Kimani Wamatangi, Thika Town MP Patrick Wainaina and ex-county official Juliet Kimemia.

Mwende Gatabaki Pulse Live Kenya

Mwende Gatabaki's Profile

Mwende started her education at Githunguri Primary School then went to Limuru Girls before joining Kenyatta University for her degree in Mathematics.

Mrs Ndii afterwards attended Salford University for a post-graduate diploma in computer technology between 1994 and 1996, and United States International University for a master's degree in management and organizational development between 1994 and 1996.

She spent 4 years at USAID as network admin then moved to KWS as an IT manager, then to UNICEF and in 2004 was appointed the group GM at Kenya Tea Development Agency.

She left after six years to become the AFDB special advisor and chief operations officer for client division services after which she was poached by President Kenyatta.

After service in government for close to two years she moved to McKinsey & Company as the East Africa Senior Public Advisor then to Lattice Consulting Limited before venturing into her own company; Africa Aquaculture Development Company