Google Search Trends is a publicly available tool that indicates search patterns over a period of time and shows the clusters of searches that made it to the weekly trending searches in the country.
According to 2018 Search Trends in Kenya, three women particularly stood out among the top ten most searched names.
The most searched person was the late Sharon Otieno, a student at Rongo University.
Sharon was abducted alongside Nation Media Group journalist Barrack Oduor and was found dead in Kodera forest in Migori county.
At the time of her murder, she was allegedly having an affair with Migori Governor Okoth Obado and was seven months pregnant.
Citizen TV news anchor Jacque Maribe was the second most searched woman.
Maribe found herself mentioned in the scandal surrounding Monica Kimani’s murder due to her involvement with the alleged killer, Joseph Irungu, her fiance.
In an interesting turn of event, Maribe reported Monica’s death days before she was arrested in regards to purportedly aiding the alleged killer.
Later, her fiance was arrested in connection with the murder after which Maribe was apprehended on charges of colluding with Irungu to conceal evidence.
In position three was former Citizen TV anchor, Kanze Dena.
Kanze quit the Royal Media Services-owned station in June and joined the president’s team as the Deputy State House spokesperson and the Deputy Head of Presidential Strategic Communications Unit (PSCU).
She had an emotional farewell from the station where her colleagues gave a glowing tribute to the news anchor. The video even made it to the most watched clips on YouTube in 2018.
In October, after working in an acting capacity for three months, President Kenyatta confirmed her to the position of State House Spokesperson and Head of PSCU.
The other most searched female in the top ten was Monica, the slain businesslady. She was found in the bathtub with her throat slit open in her Kilimani apartment.
Other names in the list include, Lawyer Miguna Miguna, Emabakasi East MP Babu Owino, Migori Governor Okoth Obado, the late Kenneth Matiba, Kirinyaga deputy Governor Peter Ndambiri and the late Celebrated Kikuyu musician Joseph Kamaru.
