Roots party leader Prof. George Wajackoya announced that he had settled on Justina Wambui Wamae as his running mate in early May.
Before being picked as running mate, Wamae and Wajackoya had never met in person. She was however picked after being interviewed for the position by the Roots party panel, and one of the panelists was a retired judge.
She applied for the position when she came across an advert that Roots was looking for a running mate.
“There is this time my husband Alex sent me a photo of prof he was wearing Gideon boots and a T-shirt on Facebook that was the first time, we hadn’t met but Roots circulated an advert, they were looking for a running mate, I sent him by CV, I had done it in 2018, I had applied for PS for a PS position after elections,” she said in an interview with Citizen TV.
She would then be called for an interview and the party asked her to come with her spouse. Wamae was later informed that her application was successful.
Here are 9 things about Wamae that you didn’t know.
1.Grew up in Kibera
Wambui grew up in Kibera at the time when ODM leader Rails Odinga was the Member of parliament of the constituency(then under Lang’ata constituency).
2.She once ran for an MP seat
In 2017 general elections, Wambui vied for the Mavoko parliamentary seat under a Jubilee ticket but wasn’t successful. She was defeated by the incumbent Patrick Makau of Wiper party.
3.Applied for a PS position
After failing to succeed in politics, in 2018 she wanted to to become a Permanent Secretary in one of the cabinet ministries but that did not go through as well.
4.Wife and Mother.
Wamae is married to a man called Alex and they have children together. It is not clear how many children they have been blessed with.
5.She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Daystar University upon graduating in 2010. Wamae advanced her education with a Masters in Procurement from Jomo Kenyatta University.
6.In 2015, she tried to venture into media by starting her own TV show, something very different from what she had studied. She reached out to Jeff Koinange to invite her to The Bench show so that she can get his concept and use it in her show which never worked.
7.Wambui is a Business Woman. She is into a business that is dominated by men. She ventured into excavation and supplying building materials.
8.She is aged 35 years old and was only 10 years old when Raila was vying for presidency for the first time in 1997.
9.She has never smoked bhang before even though her party is advocating its farming for commercial purposes. She will smoke it for the first time after she is sworn in as deputy president.
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