Welcome, Guest: Register On Nairaland / LOGIN! / Trending / Recent / NewStats: 3,194,137 members, 7,953,503 topics. Date: Thursday, 19 September 2024 at 05:39 PM |
Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Politics / Foreign Affairs / Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia (14536 Views)
Kenyan Woman's Farm Stripped By Locust Swarm (Photos) / 23-Year-Old John Paul Mwirigi Wins Parliamentary Seat In Kenya / 21-Year-Old Jewell Jones Wins Michigan House Of Representatives Seat In USA (2) (3) (4)
Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by Nobody: 12:46pm On Apr 14, 2017 |
By Lydiah Nyawira and Nasibo Kabale | Thursday, Apr 13th 2017 at 23:00 Lucy Gihuhi who was declared winner in the Australian Senate. A stroke of luck has handed a Kenyan born woman a seat in the Australian Senate after a special recount ordered by a court declared her the winner of a contested battle to represent the state of South Australia. Lucy Gichuhi, who moved to Australia in 1999 and acquired citizenship in 2001, had lost to Senator Bob Day during the primaries in July last year but the court in February ruled that he was ineligible to be elected. This set the stage for a recount which took place yesterday. And at her home in Nyeri, the family is planning a major feast today to mark her victory. “I want to slaughter that goat for my family so that we can celebrate this achievement,” said Justus Weru, her father who had keenly been following the news from their home in Hiriga village in Karatina. Celebrity status Since the news broke, the family has acquired some celebrity status as villagers throng their home to get an update of what is going on in Australia. Vying on a Family First Party ticket, the trained accountant from the University of Nairobi and law graduate from the University of South Australia, was the only other candidate besides Mr Day seeking to represent South Australia. She, however, lost getting just 152 votes. However, Australian electoral laws say in case a winner is declared to be unconstitutionally elected, the seat remains in the same party and their votes go to the person who lost to them during the primaries if a recount is ordered and there is no other candidate. And although the High Court still needs to officially approve the result, Australian media reported that there is nothing that stands in the way of the woman, born on the foothills of Mt Kenya, to becoming the first person of Kenyan descent elected to Federal Parliament. “Despite polling just 152 primary votes at the last election, the Kenyan-born lawyer, who was Family First’s number two Senate candidate, received enough flow through from votes that went to Bob Day to score the $200,000-a-year position,” the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), reported. “The Australian Electoral Officer for SA has provided the result to the High Court of Australia for its consideration,” said The Advertiser. As a country and the smallest continent on earth, Australia has six states each represented by 12 senators using a matrix dependent on the number of votes that parties get during an election with strongest getting the highest. The states are New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Queensland. Covering 983,482 square kilometres, South Australia is the fourth largest with a population of about two million people. If Gichuhi is confirmed, she will become the third Kenyan to win a high profile elective seat outside the country and the second person of African descent to sit in the continent’s parliament. Australia’s Health Minister Susan Ley was born in Nigeria. An ecstatic Mrs Gichuhi had told the media she was nervous as she waited for the results of the special ballot recount. “Absolutely, yes, I would love to take over as the Family First senator,” she said. “What I would like to bring is just empowering new and emerging communities and just making them feel and participate as Australians, other than just being in the sideline,” she said. In 2014, Elizabeth Kangethe, another Kenyan was elected Mayor of Barking and Dagenham in the UK. In 1997 Barack Obama won the Illinois Senate seat before advancing to the US Senate in 2004 and finally as the President of the world’s super power in 2008. Like Obama, Gichuhi was up to last week fighting controversies about her citizenship with various political forces questioning whether she holds dual citizenship. The Australian constitution bars anyone with dual citizenship from sitting in Parliament. “Anyone under any acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power” can be disqualified unless they have taken ‘all reasonable steps’ to renounce their other citizenship,” it says in section 44. So bad was the controversy that Kenya’s High Commissioner to Australia Isaiya Kabiria was forced last week to clarify that she lost her Kenyan citizenship when she became an Australian citizen. “Before we promulgated our new constitution in 2010, anyone who applied for citizenship in another country automatically lost their Kenyan citizenship,” he told ABC. “As far as we’re concerned in our records, Lucy Gichuhi has never applied for citizenship, therefore, she does not possess any Kenyan citizenship,” he said. Standard Digital 10 Likes 2 Shares |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by bjt(m): 12:48pm On Apr 14, 2017 |
Congratulations to her. Finally a good news for the Kenyans 10 Likes 1 Share |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by tchimatic(m): 1:07pm On Apr 14, 2017 |
Good one from Kenya to Aussie!! 9 Likes |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by Nobody: 1:30pm On Apr 14, 2017 |
bjt:There is always good news, if only OluwaSeun didn't go out of his way to fish for the abdurd 13 Likes 1 Share |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by julioralph(m): 7:38pm On Apr 17, 2017 |
Nice |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by Nobody: 3:39pm On Apr 18, 2017 |
Congrats to her on this very great feat |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by momodub: 8:25pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
Nice 1 Like |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by Nobody: 8:26pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
oyinbo too dey rig elecktion for dem country? na wa ooo
1 Like 1 Share |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by crackerspub: 8:26pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
Obama version 2.0 loading Both are originally from Kenya Obama started as a Senator She is now a Senator Obama ended up as the President She will end up as ........ complete the statement #feminism group will have a field day 2 Likes |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by AlphaStyles(m): 8:28pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
congrats to her |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by snakebeat: 8:28pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
impressive! 1 Like 1 Share |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by kings09(m): 8:29pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
Na only teeth I de see oo. 1 Like |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by bi0nics: 8:29pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
What's our business. .? This is Nairaland not KenyanLand Take your vain glory seeking to KenyanLand. . 1 Like |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by Hades2016(m): 8:30pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
Man or woman na man me da see oooo
|
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by Tenim47(m): 8:30pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
how does this stop barca from going outta champions league 1 Like |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by smartty68(m): 8:31pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
Congrats |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by Pavore9: 8:33pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
bjt: Good news dey, na the weird ones dey draw traffic! |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by Moneyyy: 8:34pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
She must be a Biafran in diaspora |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by maverickdude(m): 8:34pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
A good news for kenya this time around When kenyans see this,they b like 6 Likes
|
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by coolshegs10(m): 8:37pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
This is a very indication that I still have hope. Nigerian leaders continue your bad behaviours o.. No wahala. America here I come. |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by Ayemogee: 8:39pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
Wow |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by obataokenwa(m): 8:40pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
That's the dream for Nigeria when anybody can rule any state he or she wants. But the Hausas are too selfish of power and don't value other regions. |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by hucienda: 8:41pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
Congratulations Senator Lucy Gihuhi Sights on Aussie Perth, Canberra, Sydney, Adelaide, Queensland ... |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by Nobody: 8:44pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
WOW lucky woman wish you more and more |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by seunfape(m): 8:49pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
So good news can still come from Kenya anyway this is only good news about them since the beginning of this decade. |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by TheLogicalMind(m): 9:03pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
MEANWHILE TRUST NAIJA, WE JUST DEY DO OUR OWN OVERSEAS "ACHIEVEMENT" COOLEY |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by akigbemaru: 9:08pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
Muafrika2: |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by paddyofboss(m): 11:32pm On Apr 19, 2017 |
Hades2016:ur mumu strong oo lol |
Re: Kenyan Woman, Lucy Gihuhi Wins Senate Seat In Australia by goldedprince: 12:35am On Apr 20, 2017 |
A stroke of luck has handed a Kenyan born woman a stroke of luck really? why do you poor bastards think every successful person is just lucky? u dumb fucker, she didnt win by luck. she worked so hard to get it. 2 Likes |
My SAPS: South African Police Launches A Crime-fighting App (PIX) / US Congress Passes Bill To Sanction ICC As It Seeks Arrest Warrant For Netanyahu / Iran Captures Intruding US Drone Over Persian Gulf Waters
(Go Up)
Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 34 |