Aoko declares 2027 bid for Nairobi woman rep seat

                                                                                      Journalist Maverick Aoko / HANDOUT

Journalist Scophine Aoko Otieno, alias Maverick Aoko Otieno, has declared her ambitions to vie for the Nairobi 2027 women's representative bid.

Aoko has highlighted a number of reforms that she will implement if successfully elected.

The journalist said she will serve with dedication and offer good governance to Nairobi residents.

Among the things she has pledged to implement are to make sanitary towels tax-free and offer rehabilitation to teen mothers.

“For you, I'll legislate, not delegate my dedication, let's consummate good governance, I'll instigate untax sanitary towels, make pads affordable, rehabilitate teen mums, it's doable, Nairobi deserves the impeccable. Vote Aoko,” she said.

If she is successfully elected, she will unseat Esther Muthoni Passaris, who is currently holding the seat.

Passaris is a member of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Political Party and has served as the Nairobi County woman representative since 2017.

A county women representative is a member of the National Assembly of Kenya who represents each one of the 47 counties in an at-large seat reserved for female members.

The county women representatives serve in the national assembly alongside the 290 members elected from the constituencies, 12 nominated members and the Speaker of the National Assembly.

The role of Women's Representative was created by the current Constitution of Kenya, which was adopted in a referendum in 2010, to increase the representation of women in parliament.

Before the 2010 constitution, there were fewer than 20 female members in the Kenyan parliament.

The first woman representatives were elected in the 2013 Kenyan general election. The women representatives are elected by all registered voters in the county they represent, not only female voters.

In 2019, the Committee on Implementation and oversight of the constitution proposed abolishing the role after the next general election.

While the Constitution of Kenya requires that no more than two thirds of the National Assembly or the Senate be of the same gender, this requirement has not been met.

In 2017 the High Court ruled that the two houses had failed to perform their constitutional obligation.

Despite attempts to introduce new legislation to ensure increased representation of women in parliament, this situation has not been resolved.