What is the one thing that First Lady Rachel Ruto, the late Orie Rogo Manduli and former Wiper party presidential running mate, Prof. Julia Ojiambo have in common? The three powerhouses attended the same high school, Butere Girls High School, located in Butere Sub-County, Kakamega County.
Regarded as one of the oldest institutions in the Western region, the high school has produced notable history makers who have left an indelible mark in their areas of specialisation.
First Lady Rachel Ruto attended Butere Girls High School for her O and A levels, but she is not the only familiar name to have graduated from the prestigious national school.
Lady Justice Joyce Aluoch is also an alumnus of the Kakamega-based school. Aluoch is renowned for rising from a district magistrate to becoming the first Kenyan judge at the International Criminal Court, a hallmark of her career. She was later elected as the first Vice President of the Hague-based Court.
Lady Justice Effie Owuor is regarded as a woman of many firsts. She was Kenya's first High Court judge and inaugural female judge of the Court of Appeal, which was at the time the apex court before the operationalization of the Supreme Court. Justice Owuor has amassed a career spanning over three decades.
What began as a teaching career for Prof. Florida Karani in 1969 at the University of Nairobi turned out to be a historic venture. The lecturer would rise in ranks and become the deputy vice-chancellor at the university- a position she held for a decade.
She became a full professor in 1996 and was later appointed by the late President Mwai Kibaki as the Chancellor of Maseno University. With the appointment, Karani became Kenya's first female Chancellor of a public university.
Another notable alumnus is Mary Okello, Kenya's first female bank manager- a feat she achieved in 1977. She is also the founder of Makini schools.
Prof. Julia Ojiambo is also regarded as a woman of many firsts, as she was the first woman to be appointed as an Assistant Minister for Housing and Social Services. She later became the first Kenyan woman to join the prestigious Harvard University. She was also the first African woman to be appointed Lecturer at the University of Nairobi.
In 1974, she was the first female MP from Western province to be elected into Parliament after clinching the Funyula Constituency seat.
Elizabeth Masiga, the first woman Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, is a distinguished alumnus of Butere Girls High School.
Masiga, a Strathmore University alumnus, is also the first woman chief inspector of schools
Former Taita Taveta Member of Parliament, Naomi Shaban, had a 20-year parliamentary term streak, which was broken in the August 9 poll by Bwire Akano of the Wiper Party. Shaban ditched dentistry and turned to politics in 2002, where she clinched the Taita Taveta seat under the KANU ticket.
The high school was founded in 1916 by a missionary, Jane Chadwick, to help learners learn how to read, write, and study catechism. Over the years, Chadwick led the school until it was ranked second to Alliance Girls in 1957.
