Hon. Winfred Nyiva Mwendwa 75, is an accomplished politician. she was the First Kenyan woman to serve as a Cabinet Minister. She the Minister for Culture and Social Services. While Minister, she led a high powered delegation of Kenyan Women that attended the Women’s Conference in Beijing in 1995.

The widow of the late Kitili Maluki Mwendwa, Kenya’s first African Chief Justice, was elected for the post of Kitui West Constituency MP three times in 1972, 1992 and 2002. She was also Elected the first Kitui County woman Representative in 2013.

An alumni of the Alliance Girls High School and a former teacher at Kenya High School where she taught for a year (1965-1966), Nyiva has led a successful political life from which she retired in 2017.

She was conferred The Order of the Golden Heart of Kenya, 2nd Class,   Elder of   the Golden Heart (EGH)