Cynthia Muge leads Timely Kenya’s overall performance assessment of women representatives.
Timely Kenya ranks Cynthia Muge first and Catherine Omanyo second, while 61 per cent of respondents expect incumbents seeking another term to lose.
Nandi Woman Representative Cynthia Muge leads the women reps rankings in a new Timely Kenya survey. Busia’s Catherine Omanyo follows closely, while respondents foresee a difficult re-election contest for many incumbents.
The Women Representatives Performance Rating 2026 gives Muge an overall score of 59.9 per cent. Omanyo scores 59.1 per cent in the assessment of lawmakers’ work over the past four years.
However, 61 per cent of respondents said women representatives defending their seats were unlikely to win re-election. The findings come ahead of the 2027 General Election.
Women reps rankings assess parliamentary and county work
The assessment gave equal weight to public perceptions of work on the ground and parliamentary performance. Each component accounted for 50 per cent of the overall rating.
For county-level work, Timely Kenya assessed National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF) use and humanitarian activities. Meanwhile, the parliamentary assessment examined sponsored bills, motions, petitions, statements and committee participation.
Muge also topped the best debaters category, ahead of Kirinyaga’s Njeri Maina and Nairobi’s Esther Passaris. Maina led the category covering the number of bills, motions, petitions and questions, followed by Machakos’s Joyce Kamene and Muge.
On ground-level work, Meru’s Elizabeth Kailemia featured in all three rankings covering visibility, humanitarian activities and NGAAF use. Omanyo, meanwhile, appeared in five of the six performance rankings.
Other overall scores included 55.5 per cent for Kisii’s Dorice Donya and 55.3 per cent for Kailemia. Maina scored 55 per cent.
Visibility and public understanding remain concerns
Only four in 10 respondents said they had seen their woman representative since the 2022 General Election. Additionally, 64 per cent said they did not understand the office’s role.
Among respondents who understood that role, however, a majority wanted a larger allocation for the representatives’ fund. The survey therefore recorded support for increased funding alongside concerns about visibility and public awareness.
On legislative activity, Timely Kenya recorded 26 of the 47 women representatives as having drafted bills, motions, petitions and questions. That finding covered the four-year period under review.
The survey involved 1,818 respondents across all 47 counties, using computer-assisted telephone interviews. Researchers collected the data between October 18 and November 3, 2026. Timely Kenya reported a margin of error of plus or minus 1.05.
