Winfred Nyiva Mwendwa is a Kenyan politician. She was the first Kenyan woman to serve as a cabinet minister.
She was educated at Alliance Girls High School,[1] and was one of the first ethnic African teachers to be posted to The Kenya High School in the mid-1960s, teaching Domestic Science. She was elected for the post of Kitui West Constituency MP three times, in 1974 and 1992 representing KANU and in 2002 representing NARC.[2] At the 2007 elections she contested the seat on the ODM-Kenya ticket, but lost to Charles Mutisya Nyamai.[3] She was elected the first Kitui County woman representative in the 2013 Kitui local elections on a Wiper Democratic Movement-Kenya (WDM-K) ticket.[4] In 2016, she announced her intention to retire from active politics 40 years since her debut.[5]
Mwendwa was appointed the Minister for Culture and Social Services on May 9, 1995, becoming the first female minister in Kenya.[6]
She caused a national disfavour in 1995 when she travelled to women’s conference in Beijing in 1995 and took a hairdresser as a part of her delegation. Mwendwa herself defended the decision by stating that being a delegation leader, she must take care of her appearance.[7]
Her husband Kitili Maluki Mwendwa was Kenyan chief justice and politician. Kitili Mwendwa died in a traffic accident in 1985. He was at the time the Kitui West MP, his seat was taken at the subsequent by-election by his brother Kyale Mwendwa. His other brother, Eliud Ngala Mwendwa is also a former Kenyan minister.[8]
She lives in Matinyani village in Kitui District. Nyiva Mwendwa has two children, Kavinya and Maluki.[7]
She was awarded with The Order of the Golden Heart of Kenya,[9] 2nd Class, Elder of the Golden Heart (EGH)