Early May 2020, changes in the Kenyan Senate saw the appointment of Samuel Poghisio as the Majority leader deputised by Isiolo Senator Fatuma Dullo Adan.
As the Deputy Majority leader, the Isiolo Senator became the most powerful female leader in the house together with Nominated Senator Farhiya Ali Haji who deputised Murang'a Senator Irung'u Kang'ata in the Majority Whip seat.
Fatuma together with Poghisio will spearhead the legislative agenda of the Jubilee Party in the Senate while ensuring that Jubilee Party senators toed the line in supporting President Uhuru Kenyatta's priority projects.
They have the added responsibility of selecting Senators from their respective parties to serve in various committees as well as enforcing party discipline among Senators.
As Fatuma settles in her new post of power, she boasts of a triumphant entrance into politics becoming the first woman elected senator in Northern Kenya - her victory signalling of a changing of the tide in a rather conservative pastoral county.
Her win was hard-fought as she vied with the Party for Development and Reform (PDR) a party rebranded out of the former Party of Action (POA), which was founded by current Jubilee Secretary-General Raphael Tuju.
She beat six other candidates including Jubilee Party's Mohammed Liban by garnering 15,026 votes. Her closest rival was Hussein Roba (independent), who got 14,139 votes while the Jubilee candidate coming third with 12,139 votes.
Prior to her election, she was a nominated senator in 2013 under the United Republican Party (URP).
According to the Kenyan Parliament official website, Fatuma has a vast of experience working as a HumanRights legal adviser for UNDP and later as a commissioner at the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR)
The Deputy Majority Whip also has experience working in government from serving as a District Officer in Lamu and in Embu. She later moved to become an administrative officer in the Office of the President in Rift Valley Province before rising to a legal counsel at the Ministry of Health.
In 2019, a report derived from the Senate Hansard for a period between September 2017 and December 2018, showed that she was among the most active senators in the House alongside Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja, Moses Wetang’ula (Bungoma), Ledama Olekina (Narok), Samson Cherargai (Nandi), Aaron Cheruiyot (Kericho), Ephraim Maina (Nyeri), Moses Kajwang (Homa Bay), Cleophas Malala (Kakamega) and Kitui’s Enoch Wambua.
