2022 was an amazing year for Kenyan women in various aspects. It is the year that the country recorded the highest number of elected female governors among other achievements.
During the year, several women made headlines on social media for either good or controversial reasons.
In this article we review five women who dominated social media trends in 2022:
Charlene Ruto
The daughter of President William Ruto has been trending on social media since her father won the 2022 presidential election.
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Charlene popularly known as the first daughter has been traversing different counties and meeting several influential leaders, leaving many wondering what her end game is.
A few weeks ago, she made headlines in the country after claiming that she used to sell smokies while studying at Daystar University.
A section of netizens did not believe that Charlene, whose father was then deputy president could sell smokies.
Additionally, she recently trended online after stating that she runs the office of the first daughter, even though such an office does not exist in the Constitution.
She, however, later released a statement clarifying that the office is her personal project and is not financed by public funds.
Martha Karua
The Narc-Kenya party leader became a consistent subject of discussion online after she was named running mate of Azimio la Umoja One Kenya party leader Raila Odinga.
Her nomination was historic as it made her the first female to be nominated for the position of presidential running mate by a popular party.
Following her nomination, Karua's political statements earned her praise and ridicule in equal measure.
File image of Martha Karua. [Photo: Courtesy]
Some of her popular political statements include Azimio Haroo. This became a popular slogan and dominated Twitter trends during the campaigns.
She was also a topic of discussion online when she claimed that there was no way the presidential tally could go against Azimio, only for Ruto to be declared the winner.
Her statement on filing a presidential election petition at the East African Court of justice after the Supreme Court upheld the 2022 presidential election results, also saw her trend online.
Winnie Odinga
The daughter of ODM party leader Raila Odinga trended on several occasions thanks to her remarks or actions during and after the presidential campaigns.
Winnie is known to be bold and very vocal and in some instances, her remarks did not sit well with netizens, thus making her a subject of online criticism.
She took over the trends after that she was nominated by ODM party as one of its representatives to the East Africa Legislative Assembly (EALA).
Her election as one of Kenya's representative to EALA was also a subject of discussion as some netizens used it to revive the dynasty vs hustler debate.
Additionally, there was an instance when her account posted controversial information, but she later claimed that the account had been hacked.
Linet Toto
The Bomet County Woman Rep became an Internet sensation after she won the UDA party nominations trouncing political heavyweights.
After the August 9 general election, she emerged as the youngest leader elected to the National Assembly.
Her grace to grass story inspired many that anyone can succeed if they put in the work and maintain discipline and high level of determination.
Additionally, many have been wondering what her relationship status is and how her life will change with her new status in society.
One of the first things she did after her election was to acquire a new car for ease of movement in Nairobi and around her county.
Nelly Cheboi
Her achievements is the most recent. She was in December crowned 2022 CNN Hero of the year.
Cheboi was crowned CNN Hero of the Year thanks to her nonprofit organisation dubbed TechLit Africa, that has provided thousands of students across rural Kenya with access to computers.
As the winner of the award, Nelly bagged several monetary rewards including a $10,000 cash award, $100,000 to expand her work and other grants estimated to be approximately worth $500,000.
Following her massive win, Cheboi trended for several days on social media, with influential leaders and Kenyan at large hailing her for making the country proud.
