- Embrace warned against any attempts to take away the gender gains already being enjoyed in the current arrangement.
- The leaders demanded alternating gender representation in both national and county governments to boost women numbers in leadership.
Women leaders have come up with "irreducible minimum" ahead of the much anticipated launch of the Building Bridges Initiative report.
The leaders, under Embrace umbrella, warned against any attempts to take away the gender gains already being enjoyed in the current arrangement.
Embrace, under the leadership of Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru, cited the seats of 47 woman representatives which should not be scrapped as is being rumoured.
Without being specific on the course of action they would take should the BBI team recommend the scrapping of 47 women seats, the leaders vowed not to take lightly any erosion of the gender gains.
“We will call you and state our next course of action,” Waiguru said.
Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo said for now they are supporting BBI strictly on principle until the document is out and they see what it offers women.
“We support BBI in principle because we do not know what it contains. Our position is that nothing is taken away from the women of this country,” Odhiambo said.
Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris said they don’t want to lose anything they already have. "Whatever we do have as women we are not going to let go. We don’t want to feel that we have lost.”
Her Baringo counterpart Gladwell Cheruiyot said that adding women 47 seats in the Senate while taking away women positions in the National Assembly is a zero-sum game they will resist.
“As women leaders it will only be fair if we support what supports women of this country. It is now time for implementation and as they are implementing our gains must be safe,” Cheruiyot said.
The leaders also demanded alternating gender representation in both the national and county governments to boost women numbers in leadership.
They called on BBI experts to fix the elusive two-thirds gender rule in their yet-to be-released report.
They exuded confidence that there will be a permanent solution to gender representation which has seen the Chief Justice David Maraga advise that Parliament be dissolved.
"We have great faith in the experts. It will no longer be another proposal for Parliament to enact," Waiguru said.
On Monday, the Star reported of a scenario in which Kenyans will vote for 94 senators in the 2022 general elections to cure the two-thirds gender rule headache.
It quoted sources privy to the BBI proposals saying that the Senate will be composed of one man and one woman elected in each of the 47 counties.
Insiders say the proposed Senate composition is geared towards solving the gender equation as it affects the entire Parliament, not just the National Assembly.
The BBI reportedly proposes mixed representation in the National Assembly where 290 MPs will be elected on a first-past-the-post basis.
An additional 63 seats will be allocated based on actual votes cast per county, thereby increasing National Assembly members to 353.
This means the more people vote in an election, the higher the chances they will get the seats allocated to their county.
- mwaniki fm