All You Need To Know About Roselinda Soipan Tuya, First Maasai Woman To Become Cabinet Secretary
In a shock move, President William Ruto moved Soipan Tuya to the Defence Ministry while Aden Duale has been moved to the Ministry of Environment.
Tuya graduated with a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Nairobi in 2002 and later obtained a diploma from the Kenya School of Law.
In 2004, she was admitted to the bar as an advocate of the High Court.
She later won a scholarship to pursue a Master’s degree in sustainable international development at the University of Washington in Seattle, US.
She landed her first job with a non-profit organisation where she worked as a legal officer, coordinating environmental and land issues concerning governance, taking part in various regional and international forums apart from winning many land-related court cases.
She later joined the United Nations as a volunteer specialist, where she developed policy briefs focusing on human rights abuse among Kenyans, such as the infamous Tana delta environment cancer case in Marsabit caused by oil spills in the county.
She attended Ololulunga Primary School in Olentutu, Narok County, an institution set up by the World Bank to support pastoralist communities.
Tuya sat her Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination in the school and emerged as the top girl in Narok. She joined Kenya High School after transferring from Moi Girls High School due to health complications and then sat her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams in 1998.
Tuya is the fourth daughter of 15 of former Narok South MP Samson Ole Tuya.
After leaving USAID, she joined elective and competitive politics in 2012, winning the Narok Woman Representative in 2022 after abandoning her quest to vie for the Narok gubernatorial seat.
President William Ruto appointed her the Environment, Climate Change and Forestry Cabinet Secretary, taking over from Keriako Tobiko who hails from the neighbouring Kajiado County.
She has now been moved to the Defence docket.
