Anne Waiguru

She attended Nairobi River Primary School and later Precious Blood Girls' Secondary School, Riruta where she sat for her O-Level exams in 1987. She then joined Moi Forces Academy in Nairobi where she sat for her A-Level exams in 1989. At Moi Forces Academy, Waiguru studied mathematics, physics and chemistry. Upon graduating from Egerton University with a bachelor's degree in agriculture and home economics, she worked for Transparency International as an intern and research assistant, and then joined the Kenya Leadership Institute.[7] Waiguru holds a master's degree in economics from the University of Nairobi, and has specialized experience in public finance, financial management systems, public service reform, capacity building and governance.[8]

Anne Waiguru began her career in the public service by providing technical assistance to the Public Service Reform Secretariat in what was then the Cabinet Office. She then served as the Head of Governance and the Economic Stimulus Programme at the National Treasury , alternate to the Permanent Secretary/National Treasury in the Public Procurement Oversight Authority and advisory board and the Women Enterprise Fund Board.[9] She was successfully nominated in 2011 as one of the Top 40 under 40 women in the country, the only nominee at the time from the Public Service.[10]

Waiguru was the director of Integrated Financial Management and Information System (IFMIS) , and Head of Governance at the National Treasury. She served briefly as a senior public sector manager/assistant vice president, at Citi-group. Previously, she served as a technical advisor in the Cabinet Office, Office of the President on secondment from the World Bank .[2] Waiguru has served as the alternate to the Permanent Secretary National Treasury in the Public Procurement Oversight Authority Advisory Board, and, the Women Enterprise Fund Board.[2]#WTCPresident Mwai Kibaki honoured Ann Waiguru with an Order Grand Warrior title due to her exemplary performance at the Information System and Integrated Financial Management.Her team through her leadership also won three Awards for good Performance in the Public Service.[11]

At the end of August 2016, Anne Waiguru declared her interest in politics and registered for TNA membership. This was in preparation for the 2017 general election where she was planning to vie for the Kirinyaga County gubernatorial seat.

In 2017, Waiguru was elected Governor of Kirinyaga county, making her one of only three women governors in the country. She steered the county in developing a Sessional Paper for the county stipulating a 15-year visionary agenda titled the Mountain Cities Blueprint. The paper is the first sub-national paper in the country. She has also undertaken healthcare reforms, transport and infrastructure upgrades and is developing an industrial park to manufacture local produce.

She has implemented a social economic empowerment program dubbed Wezesha Kirinyaga, that focuses on four value chains namely poultry, dairy, avocado and tomatoes. In poultry, 32 community groups comprising 900 households are supported to produce one million eggs a month, earning an extra KSh.1,000/= daily for each of the households. The dairy, avocado and tomato projects focus on establishment of processing factories with an aim of adding value to agricultural produce.

The other project is an apparel factory where women are engaged in making hospital linen and school uniforms to earn a living.