Parliament and county assemblies won't fret about the contentious two-thirds gender rule if a bill exempting elective positions is passed.
Nominated MP David Sankok drafted the bill seeking to restrict the gender rule to appointed positions only — and only 60 per cent at that.
If passed, nomination women's slots would be scrapped.
Sankok says the plan to remove the two-gender rule will save the government millions of shillings currently used to fund the hundreds of nominated positions.
Currently, there are 1,450 elected members and 774 nominated ones in the 47 county assemblies.
The National Assembly has 75 women, 22 elected, from the 290 constituencies in the last election; six nominated for 12 nomination slots and 47 elected as woman representatives.
It requires 42 nominated MPs to achieve the gender principle.
“County assemblies have achieved it but see how many MCAs have been nominated and that is a burden on taxpayers,” Sankok said yesterday.
The proposal also wants Article 27 of the Constitution amended to require that no more than 60 per cent of persons appointed to public bodies shall be of the same gender. Currently, it says no more than two-thirds.
The nominated MP argued that the two-thirds gender rule has been abused by political players as nominated persons do not really represent the interests of the women. He said their nominations are not based on merit or any known criteria.
Sankok said the rule which has escaped Parliament for a record four times should only be applied in appointive seats like Cabinet secretaries and other government positions.
“Further, elections are based on the free will of the people. In this regard, affirmative action for elective positions negates the provisions of Article 38 (2) of the Constitution which gives citizens the right to free, fair and regular elections based on universal suffrage and the free expression will,” the draft reads.
In all four cases, many men boycotted the National Assembly so there would be no quorum for a vote.
(Edited by R.Wamochie)
