Post date: Mar 20, 2013 3:52:29 PM
At 22, Julie Wangombe's words have set the tone for what could be five years of an Uhuru Kenyatta presidency for Kenya. The newly president elect's speech writer, Julie talks about how she was given a daunting task at such a young age and how the experience introduced her to the country's complex political scene.
NAIROBI, KENYA (REUTERS) - Kenyan poet Julie Wangombe has a way with words. At just 22 years old, her work has already found its place in Kenya's history.
Julie wrote the victory acceptance speech for president-elect Uhuru Kenyatta, whose election earlier this month is being challenged by his rival, Raila Odinga.Handpicked by Kenyatta's party chairman, Johnson Sakaja after he saw her perform at a poetry event in the US in 2008, Julie says she was surprised by the offer to write a speech for such a high profile Kenyan political figure.
"I don't know what he (Johnson Sakaja, National Chairman, The National Alliance party of Kenya (TNA) saw at that point in time earlier but he was always very encouraging and he kind of, so he contacted me while I was, I was in States, I was in Duke University and he contacted me and he was like write a speech and I was like ok, and so he gave me all the details, he asked me to write and he was very encouraging, he was like you can do this, I know. So like I wrote and I sent it in and funny enough I ended up coming home not to long afterwards and so when I came home, he offered me a job," she said.
Shortly after being declared winner by securing a small margin above the 50 percent needed for outright victory, the son of Kenya's founding president, urged the international community to respect Kenyan sovereignty and democratic will, called for peace and congratulated his rival Odinga for a spirited campaign.
The poignant speech, written by Julie and mentored by a team of political advisors including Kenyatta himself, was watched by millions across the world.
"There is like a chain of command, and then... so for the victory speech eventually it gets to Uhuru and we actually managed to sit down with him and actually he spent a whole day which was very, very cool. He spent a whole day just like, we give him a copy, he reads it, he likes okay this and I want to take this and this is; you know. So we go back, we edit it, we give him another copy, he reads it and so on and so forth, until finally for the last copy he was like; it was like 7 pm and he was like I like it and I was like oh, praise Jesus," she said.
Julie studied law, but her interest quickly shifted to issues of development and politics. She is currently pursuing a degree International Relations a university inNairobi.
Julie says the speech writing experience has been life changing but she is not letting herself get stuck in the moment.
"It's kind of important not to be too serious but at the same time... the thing that maybe is a challenge is also understanding that because you are young, you probably, I mean you don't see the whole story, you don't see the whole story in particular issue, you still have so much to learn and stuff like that," she said.
"She's very, she writes very well, she's very candid, her message is very straight to the point but also not necessarily always offensive as a poet at times it is inevitable to be offensive be especially if you are speaking truth but offensive but there is, there beautiful writings," said her friend and fellow poet, Dan Mwangi.
Julie, who also writes a blog called Alien Citizens, which talks about her deep christian faith, says poetry and writing best express her beliefs and strong values.
Kenya's presidency depends on the outcome of Odinga's petition, which alleges widespread rigging in the March 4 polls and accuses the electoral commission of inflating voter registration numbers and going ahead with the election aware that its systems were going to fail.
In the meantime, Julie has been tasked with helping to prepare what could be Kenyatta's inauguration speech.
"I will be kind of helping out with the inaugural speech but I think... and obliviously he will be extremely involved in that because it's his inauguration and so… so there is work going on about that. It's different working with a president elect rather than a candidate," she said.
Julie is also currently recording her first spoken word album which will be realised in August this year.