Anne Kananu, born Ann Kananu Mwenda is currently serving as Kenya’s capital city (Nairobi) governor. She has always been behind the scene when it comes to politics until 2020 when she was appointed as Nairobi’s deputy governor.
Kananu was appointed by former Nairobi governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko two years after his running mate Polycarp Igathe resigned from office. However, her vetting process was delayed pending a hearing petition posted by Peter Odhiambo.
According to Peter, Sonko had degraded a court order while making the decision. At the time Sonko was making the decision, Anti Corruption court magistrate had prohibited Sonko from accessing the office due to corruption charges.
However, after Sonko’s impeachment in 2020 following graft allegation, the petition was lifted promoting Kananu to serve as the first female governor of Nairobi. She hopes to defend the seat in the coming 2022 August election facing courageous Senator Johnson Sakaja.
Anne Kananu Age and Place of Birth
Kananu was born in Embu County in 1980, she is 41 years as of 2022.
Anne Kananu Family, Husband, And Kids
Much is not known about her family background. Speaking of her love life, she was married to the late Philip Njiru Muthathai who died in a fatal accident in Arthi River.
Anne Kananu Education Level
The good-looking governor began her schooling at St Michael Primary School. After that, she proceeded to Our Lady of Mercy Girls in Ngundu completing her Secondary School level in 1999.
Kananu holds a diploma in Criminology and Security management from St. Pauls University. In addition, she is an alumni of Dedan Kimathi University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Criminology and Security Management.
Kananu also holds a certificate in crisis management from AVSEC, Female screening, Man-Portable Air Defense System, which she obtained from the United States Department of Homeland Security.
Career
The tenacious governor began her career as a personal assistant (PA) working with the CEO of Mokir Enterprises, which was a Safaricom consultancy firm dealing with customer services. She worked in that capacity for one year from 2002 to 2003.
In 2003, she joined H. Mogambi & CO. Advocates still as a personal assistant, where she also worked for one year from 2003 to 2004. Apart from working as a personal assistant, she has also worked as a switchboard operator at the Kenya College of Communication Technology.
In 2005, she landed a kind of lucrative job at Kenya Airports Authority compared to what she was doing earlier. At KAA she was working as a security supervisor in charge of quality control and training.
She served with KAA for a period of 13 years before moving to Nairobi County to serve as county chief officer for Disaster Management and Coordination. The position was established in 2018 to deal with risk and crisis management and its governed by the office of the Governor.
From serving as a county chief officer for disaster management she was nominated to serve as the interim chief of water in 2019.
Rise to Governorship
On 6th January 2020, impeached Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko nominated Kananu to serve as his deputy governor. Kananu’s nomination came years after Igathe’s resignation.
However, despite her nomination, she was barred from taking the office or being vetted due to a pending case concerning her nomination. After one year of a tough court battle, the petition was finally lifted.
At the time the petition was being lifted Nairobi was being run by NMS and county speaker after Sonko was impeached in December 2020. On 15th January 2021, she was appointed as the first female Nairobi Governor. After her nomination, she was sweared in by Justice Mativo at the Kenyatta International Convention Center (KICC).
Anne Kananu Net Worth
She receives an estimated salary of
Ksh1 million without allowances which may add up to Ksh 200k.