Charity Ngilu
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Charity Ngilu (1952-) is a Kenyan woman politician and the minister of health since 2002.
Ngilu was born in Mbooni, Makueni District in 1952. She worked as a secretary for Central Bank of Kenya, before becoming an entrepreneur. She acted as a director of a plastics extrusion factory. Ngilu has been the leader of the Maendeleo Ya Wanawake, a women’s movement, since 1989.
Kenya's first multiparty elections were held in 1992 and Ngilu surprisingly took the Kitui central constituency seat on Democratic party ticket.
In the 1997 Kenya general elections she run for presidency and along with Wangari Maathai was the first woman presidential candidate in Kenya. Ngilu then represented the Social Democratic Party of Kenya. She finished fifth.
Later, she joined National Party of Kenya. In the 2002 Kenya general elections her party was part of the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC). The coalition went on to win the elections, and president Mwai Kibaki appointed her as the minister of health.
She was also appointed NARC chairperson, a position she still holds. But she has been left stranded after the Liberal Democratic Party left the coalition while most of the remaining NARC-members founded the new Narc-Kenya party, though NARC is still officially the ruling party.
Ngilu is seen as a new school member in the government, as opposed to old school members like John Michuki and president Kibaki. Despite occasional disputes with other cabinet members, her position as a minister stays firm.
Her husband, Michael Mwendwa Ngilu, died in July 1, 2006 in South Africa. Charity Ngilu has three children.
