More than 10 years after the promulgation of the constitution, there is no specific legislation that has been enacted to enforce the constitutional provision on gender equality.
The implementation of the two-thirds gender principle should be understood in the context of the search for broader political inclusion for women.
The principle is solidly entrenched in the constitution.
This makes its implementation a matter of constitutional compliance and not a choice, since the justification was already debated and settled in the constitution-making processes.
Parties have concluded primaries and are complying with IEBC timelines ahead of the August polls. The commission has indicated that it will reject party lists that do not meet the two-thirds gender rule.
In the event that a political party presents a list of 290 candidates for constituency-based elective positions, not more than 193 candidates can be of the same gender.
The representation of women in Kenya’s Parliament has been and remains minimal.
Only 9.8 per cent of the 10th Parliament was women, and only 20.7 per cent of the sitting Parliament were women making it the lowest in East Africa.
Under-representation of women in positions of power is indefensible; a country simply cannot progress economically, politically or socially without half its citizens participating meaningfully in political spheres and critical decision-making processes.
Kenya is a signatory to various international, regional and sub-regional instruments.
They are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, The African Union Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) and the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa.
It, therefore, has no substitute but to uphold these principles and pull up its socks to attain equitable gender representation in the National Assembly, Senate and county assemblies.
Parliament has witnessed high-level criticism and castigations for failure to enact the relevant legislation following the promulgation of the constitution.
It is salient to note that it is the state that is empowered to ensure two-thirds of members of all elective and appointive positions are not of the same gender.
As a concept, the state is a form of political community and refers to a conglomeration of various organs.
The state should be distinguished from the government which refers to a group of people who are usually in charge of the state apparatus.
Parliament must be fully co-opted into the inclusive philosophy of the constitution that has opened up space for women’s representation in elective and appointive positions.
The low proportional representation of women in political and governance structures across the globe, has necessitated the introduction of gender quotas in different countries to remedy underrepresentation.
Kenya has the largest economy and highest GDP per capita in East Africa, but it is the only country in the region yet to establish an affirmative action programme for gender representation in Parliament.
Political representation of Kenyan women now stands at 20.7 per cent, Rwanda at 58 per cent, Tanzania at 36 per cent Uganda and Burundi both at 35 per cent.
Women remain large victims of undemocratic nomination processes and challenges related to patriarchal culture, electoral violence, gender-neutral laws, first-past-the-post contests, economic exclusions and the influence of international linkages that makes them more vulnerable.
Founder- Integrated Development Network
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
