Community: a Q&A with Maurine Jepchumba Lecher, Acting Chief of Makurian Ranch

The Safari Series sat down with Acting Chief of Makurian Ranch, Maurine Lecher, to discuss how she is breaking barrier in her region by being the first ever female in a leadership role - an unusual achievement that goes against traditional gender roles in her culture.

The Safari Series (TSS): Hello Maurine, thank you for your time today and giving us the chance to learn more about your culture and how you are breaking cultural barriers in your community. Can you tell us a little more about yourself and your role within the community?

Maurine Lecher (ML): Thank you. I was appointed Assistant Chief from February 2014, nearly 6 years ago. Last month I was promoted to Acting Chief of Makurian Ranch. This was after the Chief was suspended for activities related to cattle rustling, which is very bad.

TSS: So the elders of the community saw you a good person to take over the role?

ML: Yes they did. Previously I had been working another Assistant Chief on the ground, but I was appointed to be the acting chief in the area.

TSS: So when you were given the role of Assistant Chief in 2014, you must have been quite young?

ML: Yes I was! I think I was 27 or 28 years old.

TSS: And being a woman - previously you had told me that you were the first woman to hold this position in your community?

ML: Yes I am the first woman in the whole distract, and even sub-county, for now to be appointed in such a role.

TSS: And why do you think this is the case?

ML: It is because of the Maasai culture that I belong to [Maurine belongs to the Maasai tribe, one of Kenya’s 43 tribes and probably its most famous] do not expect or encourage women to take positions of leadership. Men in my culture believe women should be at home, to be doing housework and looking after children. They believe that women are not given that kind of power, as by our cultural beliefs.

TSS: How did you break that cultural boundary?

ML: During the time prior to 2014, we had been joining organisations such as the GCCD. This organisation was a women’s group that focus on creating awareness and promoting the rights of women to empower female members of the community to move forward. I was the secretary of this organisation branch in Laikipia North. I saw there in the front line, fighting for the rights of women. I was also trained in para-legal work. So during that process and training, I learnt that women can also lead and that is it not only men that can lead the community.

TSS: So how did you get the position you have now?

ML: So when I heard about the role within Makurian Ranch, I applied. In fact, we were three women and nine men who applied. So I came out and applied, went for the interview and after all, I managed to come out as successful.

TSS: Congratulations for that. During your time in the organisation you must have felt for the first time that women can do these types of roles. Have you ever felt opposition to your appointment?

ML: Yes I have. At first, I was met by so much opposition from men, and even from women too. They said that in our culture, since we were born, we have never seen a women in such a position - and standing in front of men. You know, in my culture, it is the men who stand in front. But I said, I am not here to enforce the laws of the Maasai culture, I am here to enforce the laws of Kenya and of our government. I didn’t care and I am so much encouraged by the appointment to this role that I knew I could do this work for my country.

TSS: Since you have been doing other work, have you inspired other women to progress in these areas?

ML: Yes I have - since my appointment there have been other women who have progressed to leadership positions and moved to break boundaries. The Member of Parliament for Laikipia North is now a women - Sarah Korere - and she is the first woman MP for this area [MP Korere is another women working against the odds for her position - learn more about her here]. That was the way forward for us. We also have more and more women’s organisations and committees coming about, and women are taking leadership positions there too. Since my time, women now know that they can hold positions of power and this has been a big change for my community. They are no longer left at home! I now also have another lady assistant chief, who has taken the role I was doing before, and we are fighting for more.

TSS: When you first started your role, were you married at the time?

ML: I was married. My husband supported me from the beginning, so much. He is a police officer so he knows and understands the importance of a position of power within our community. He supported me in all that process and has never disappointed me or stood apart from me.

TSS: What do you for your future? What would you like to do?

ML: OK, in my future I have so many plans! I am hoping to further my studies. I want to study more so I can also aim to be someone bigger than I am. Even I want to go into politics or become the District Officer of this region. I want to study to get a degree in issues of governance and community. I will study a management course as a distance learning so I can work and study in the evening.

TSS: You mentioned the MP Sarah Korere. Is she someone you admire? Have you ever met her?

ML: I know her well and she is even supporting me so much in this work. In case I have any issues she is helping me. It is women helping women. We call her Mother and Sister. She has been very good to the community and women at large.

TSS: In your community, how can you and the other women in power help the younger women and children, both male and female children, towards a more positive outlook for the future?

ML: We work with them and help them by creating awareness and even making it so they know that they can make better in their lives. So we support them by education, environment and support them through sponsorship programmes.

[A group of women and girls walk past where we are sitting doing the interview - they stop to talk and pay their respects to Maurine and we discuss where they are going.]

TSS: So this group of girls who are passing now, do you know them?

ML: Yes I know them. All the women in my community know me and we interact very often. Many of these women and girls come to me if they need help or have a problem. I have many cases that I have been handling, some are experiencing problems related to forced marriages. They come to me, I take the case and handle it through the necessary stages to solve the issue and make sure the girl can go back to school and resume her studies.

TSS: Do you think that being a women helps this work?

ML: Many times these girls would not be able to talk to a man about these problems. They are free to talk - just like us, we are free to discuss these issues unlike if I was talking with Baba Rom [Baba Rom is what Maurine calls my husband - ‘Baba’ is Swahili for Father/Dad and ‘Rom’ is a shortening of our baby’s name; Romilly’] which would make the speaking less free.

TSS: Final question, do you think there is a way that women in power can also help the male children also?

ML: This is an important question. Now, and for so long, we have been focusing on ‘the girl child’; girl child education, girl child health, girl child promotion… So we have been protecting girls so much that now it has turned the other way. Now young male children are also affected even more. Now, male children finish primary school [in Kenya primary school is free, but after the parent needs to pay for secondary education'] life becomes harder, they leave primary school and there is nothing for them. Now, most of these young male children are suffering inside, and silently. It is like the past, but now the roles have changed. I prefer now that we take both the girl and the boy children and educate equally. Nothing will change if the boy child is not educated. If a crime happens against a woman - take the forced marriage for example - you can protect the girl child but the problem does not go away if the boy child is not educated against this crime from happening again.

TSS: That is so true…. Thank you Maurine for your time and insight into your work and community. I look forward to working together soon and to bringing guests from our camp to meet and learn more about your community.