I Did Not Mean It- Osoro On Period Remarks To CS Malonza

Majority Chief Whip and South Mugirango Member of Parliament (MP) Sylvanus Osoro has been forced to respond to the heated criticism following remarks defending newly sworn-in Tourism, Wildlife and Heritage Cabinet Secretary (CS) Peninah Malonza.

Speaking after the swearing-in ceremony at the State House on Thursday, October 27, Osoro defended his comments that sparked uproar nationwide whereby he insinuated that Malonza had failed to respond to some of the questions by the Committee on Appointments due to her menstrual cycle.

While noting that he was misunderstood, Osoro noted that he was calling for equal representation in President William Ruto's cabinet and not meant to demean women in any way.

Tourism CS Peninah Malonza with President William Ruto at State House on October 27, 2022. /TWITTER

"I did not intend to demean women. I did not have bad intentions. If Malonza fails to perform just ask me, I believe she will execute her mandate as expected," Osoro remarked.

The Majority Whip still believed that the decision by the committee to reject her before she was approved in a reverse turn of fortunes was out of bias and that she was nervous during the vetting, an act that made her struggle to answer some of the tricky questions fielded to her.

"People raised issues because they did not understand what I meant. I said people should stop judging Malonza by what transpired on that day.

"She might have fumbled with responding to some questions due to fear. Maybe she had a bad day or maybe someone told her she wasn't well dressed before the vetting lowering her self-esteem," he explained.

Osoro while addressing Parliament on Tuesday, October 25 hinted that she was probably not well prepared to face the vetting panel and that she was on her periods, something that rattled the entire August House.

Samburu West MP Naisula Lesuuda was among the first group of lawmakers to strongly reprimand him, stating that he should not have made matters worse by trivializing her based on the moods she had on the day. 

“Majority whip by thinking you are helping Hon Malonza by bringing issues of her periods on this floor. You are actually making it worse because we did not judge her on that.”

“You cannot also bring issues when it comes to matters women to trivialize it and become about our moods, our emotions, our periods," she ranted. Lesuuda was part of the committee that grilled Malonza during the vetting exercise.

Malonza's nomination to the Tourism docket did not initially sit well with Members of Parliament (MP) from the Azimio la Umoja coalition who faulted how she struggled to prove herself that she was the right candidate to take over from Najib Balala, one of Kenya's longest office bearers of the tourism docket.

Several times she had to be corrected for misquoting facts and failing to admit she made mistakes during the vetting exercise.

Malonza had promised that she would do better than her predecessors, including Balala, in reviving the sector, even though she was questioned severally on her competence for the job.

"Kenyans will now see the lioness in me through unmatched performance in my docket,” she told the Nation.

Malonza takes charge of a critical docket which has been putting Kenya on the global map for years thanks to its wildlife and tourist attractions.