Kisii Woman Representative Janet Ongera’s side has won the last two referendum exercises; 2005 No campaigns and the 2010 Yes constitution changes.
Ongera will also be leading the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) secretariat campaigns alongside Dr Sara Kilemi.
“The journey to a more peaceful and prosperous country is on. BBI has given us an opportunity to reflect as a country and have the best policy framework put in place for the coming generations,” says Ms Ongera.
“President Uhuru Kenyatta and my party leader Raila Odinga have shown trust in me. I believe in prosperity and cohesiveness. This is an honour. The Country is yearning for a better future, the handshake has given us an opportunity to reflect on our mistakes and put in place lasting solutions,” she added.
In 2005 Ongera was approached by the Kenya African National Union (KANU) to chair the campaigns for the ‘NO’ side in the national constitutional Referendum.
She took charge of things and was at the forefront in brokering a political deal that saw KANU merge with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to form the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
In 2010 she headed the Yes Secretariat alongside Prof Peter Kagwanja.
From the year 2013 – 2017 Ong’era was nominated by her Party ODM to serve as a Senator in the 11th parliament.
At the Senate, she was the Minority Deputy Whip and a member of The Kenyan Delegation to the Pan African Parliament. She served as the Executive Director of the ODM and during her tenure she successfully conducted party primaries of which the party won 95 Parliamentary and 3380 civics seats in the 2007 general elections.
By Frank Akunga
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