Charity Kaluki Ngilu entered national politics after women in Kitui encouraged her to stand for parliament in Kenya’s first multiparty elections. She had worked with them to improve water and health facilities in their town, and initially regarded their request as unbelievable. Despite having far fewer resources than the government-party incumbent, she won the parliamentary contest with ease.

As a representative, Ngilu criticized the Moi government for neglecting poor people, particularly women. Her political position combined practical concerns about water and health services with broader criticism of corruption, inefficiency, and the unequal distribution of political power. Her success demonstrated that an opposition candidate with limited resources could defeat a government-backed incumbent.

In 1997, Ngilu announced a presidential campaign and became the first woman to seek Kenya’s highest office. She campaigned vigorously but finished fifth, receiving about 360,000 votes against Moi’s 2,400,000. Although she lost, she called for reform of laws that allowed the president to arrest and imprison opponents and argued that Kenya’s political future should not be reserved for men.