Peris Mukoko-Wanyaga
Peris Mukoko Wanyaga is reshaping Kenyan rugby from the touchline to the boardroom. A former Kenya Lionesses flanker, she hung up her boots in 2009 and channelled her passion into match officiating, becoming the country’s first woman to officiate a Kenya Cup fixture. In 2017 World Rugby accredited her as East Africa’s first female Match Officials Educator and Trainer, licensing her to run referee and assistant-referee courses across the continent.
Mukoko’s influence extends to governance. Elected to the Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) board in 2019, she championed gender-balanced sub-committees and drafted the union’s inaugural Safeguarding & Inclusion Policy. As Honorary Treasurer and Director of Women’s Rugby at Kenya Harlequin RFC, she launched the Whistle Sisters initiative, which has qualified 48 new female match officials and doubled women’s representation in club leadership within three seasons.
In 2021 she earned a coveted World Rugby Executive Leadership Scholarship, one of only 12 recipients globally, funding advanced studies in sport management and mentorship with Rugby Africa’s executive cadre. Named a 2020 Rugby Africa “Unstoppable,” Mukoko continues to lecture in physical education at Kenyatta University and spearheads community clinics that introduce girls in Kibera and Machakos to rugby’s core values. Her mission is clear: create pathways so every Kenyan girl can play, referee, or administer the game at the highest level.