Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga stood before a crowd on August 27 and did something rare for a sitting public official — she announced her battle with cancer after she was diagnosed 12 years ago.
Speaking at the outdoor dedication ceremony for a new cancer treatment centre in Homa Bay County, Wanga recalled the moment she received her diagnosis, describing the scene around her as one of quiet devastation.
The Memory That Still Moves Her
"I just saw people crying everywhere. My family members, they were walking on the corridors, they were all crying," she said, her voice steady even as the weight of the memory was visible on her face.
She said she drew strength from counsel given to her by Senator Beth Mugo, a fellow politician who had navigated a cancer journey of her own. The advice was blunt and uncompromising: it is the mind, not the disease, that determines survival.
"It is your mind that is going to kill you. It is not the answer," Wanga quoted Senator Mugo as saying, adding that she carried those words with her through the entire ordeal.
She also recalled a moment of quiet gratitude that grounded her during treatment. At the time of her diagnosis, she had just been elected to Parliament and had access to medical care that many Kenyans do not.
"I said let me thank God, because what if I did not have the opportunity to get treatment in the same way that I have as a member of Parliament," she said in an emotional video shared by Cyprian Nyakundi.
That awareness, she explained, is precisely what drives her to build what she could not guarantee for others at the time.
What Homa Bay's New Cancer Centre Will Offer
Wanga confirmed that the facility would begin operations with chemotherapy services before expanding to include radiotherapy. Her long-term vision is for the centre to offer the full spectrum of cancer diagnosis and treatment, so that patients no longer have to travel far from home for care.
"In Homa Bay, they are going to have every facility possible for diagnosing and for treating cancer," she said. "It is people who are going to come here to get treated. It is not us."
Twelve years after her diagnosis, she told the crowd she remains cancer-free and fully committed to the project. "In Thanksgiving, 12 years later, I am here. I am not going anywhere."