Woman Rep office least understood and engaged with, Transparency International report finds

The Office of the Woman Representative is the least understood and least accessed among Kenya’s elected leadership positions, according to a new report by Transparency International (TI) Kenya.

Findings from the County Governance Status Report 2025 reveal that only 41.3 per cent of citizens are aware of the roles and responsibilities of their Woman Representative. Even fewer—just four per cent—reported having any contact with the office.

This represents the lowest level of public engagement across all elected offices, including those of Senators, Governors, Members of Parliament (MPs), and Members of the County Assembly (MCAs).

In comparison, MPs and Governors recorded the highest levels of public understanding, at 79.3 per cent and 75.8 per cent, respectively. Senators were understood by 54.1 per cent of respondents, while Woman Representatives ranked lowest at 41.3 per cent.

“This limited knowledge could result in relatively less interaction with the two offices and consequently lower levels of civic demand for accountability,” reads the report.

Misunderstood roles

The report also uncovered widespread misconceptions, even among respondents who believed they understood the roles of various elected leaders.

For instance, many mistakenly identified MCAs as being responsible for building roads and schools.

The most notable misunderstanding involved Members of Parliament, with several respondents incorrectly attributing roles such as issuing bursaries, managing development projects, and overseeing the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) to them.

When it came to direct interaction, the Woman Representative's office recorded the lowest level of engagement, with only 4 per cent of citizens reporting any contact. The Office of the Senator followed at 5.4 per cent. In contrast, the Office of the MCA had the highest engagement rate at 24.9 per cent, followed by governors at 18.7 per cent.

“The low levels of contact with elected leaders is likely to compromise the quality of public participation in governance at the county level,” reads the report.

Surveys conducted in 2016 and 2019 show a consistent trend of limited public interaction with Woman Representatives and Senators.

While the office of the MCA has consistently recorded the highest levels of citizen engagement, the latest data reveals a 12-point decline, dropping from 36 per cent in 2016 to 24 per cent in 2025.

Geographical scope

The report attributes the persistently low engagement with Woman Representatives and Senators to the broader geographical scope of their constituencies, which cover entire counties—unlike MPs and MCAs who represent smaller, more localised areas.

“Geographical proximity of MCAs and MPs who represent much smaller areas may account for higher levels of contact compared to Women Representatives and Senators whose jurisdictions encompass entire counties,” reads the report.

When it comes to engagement channels, public meetings—such as barazas—were the most commonly used. According to the report, over 61 per cent of interactions with Governors occurred in such forums, while MPs conducted 48 per cent of their engagement through similar gatherings.

Phone calls and text messages were key communication tools for MCAs and Senators, accounting for 23 per cent and 20 per cent of interactions, respectively. Physical visits were most frequent with Senators at 30 per cent, followed by MCAs at 19.4 per cent.

While social media use remains limited, the report notes a notable uptick in its use by Woman Representatives, who reported the highest engagement via social platforms at 9.1 per cent, up from just 2 per cent in 2019.

One-way communication channels

Despite these efforts, the report cautions that most public meetings still function as one-way communication channels, limiting opportunities for meaningful, two-way dialogue.

“While elected officials appear to create forums to engage, the nature of these barazas often means communication is one-way, limiting meaningful two-way engagement,” reads the report.

The study also reveals major gaps in public knowledge about how to contact elected leaders. A striking 82.5 per cent of respondents said they did not know how to reach their Woman Representative, while 82.3 per cent were similarly unsure how to contact their Senator.

The trend continued across other offices, with 63.8 per cent unaware of how to reach their Governor or Deputy Governor, and 59.2 per cent unsure of how to contact their MP.

“From an accountability perspective, this indicates that the public does not have a clear pathway to hold elected leaders accountable,” TI Kenya states, warning that without such channels, public oversight, project monitoring, and grievance redress remain weak.

In terms of performance ratings, both the Office of the Woman Representative and the Senator received the lowest scores, two out of five. In contrast, the MCA, MP, and governor offices each averaged a score of three.

While MPs and MCAs have consistently maintained their average ratings across the 2016, 2019, and 2025 surveys, the Senator’s rating declined from three to two in the latest report.

The Woman Representative’s office has persistently recorded below-average performance scores throughout all three survey cycles.

“It is evident that for offices where respondents indicated that they do not know how to reach the office holders, the performance ratings were correspondingly low,” reads the report.