Majority leader Aden Duale finally tables bill on gender rule

From left: Wiper Nominated Senator Judith Sijeny, Nairobi County Woman Representative Rachel Shebesh and Meru Woman Representative Florence Kajuju at a past event. A new proposal seeks to have more women in elective and appointive positions. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

Women will be the biggest winners if Parliament approves the proposed amendments to the Constitution to ensure more of them are elected into the National Assembly and the Senate.

Majority Leader Aden Duale (Garissa Township) tabled a new bill in the House yesterday as he signaled that the National Assembly would be seeking an extension of the August 27 deadline for the two-thirds gender rule implementation.

Duale said the deadline was less than a month away, yet the Constitution requires an amendment to its articles to stay in each House of Parliament for at least 90 days between the First Reading and the Second Reading. “We need to accord an extension, because we can’t beat the deadline because of the 90-day period,” said Duale.

The amendment, plus other changes to several laws under the Two-Third Gender Rule Laws (amendment) Bill 2015, will ensure that not more than two-thirds of members in elective or appointive bodies are of the same gender.

“The journey to attaining that principle starts today,” said Duale.

The bill seeks to have additional women in leadership if the election does not meet the threshold. The proposed law will lapse 20 years after the date of the second General Election held under the Constitution.

This means that if after an election the number of women does not meet the constitutional threshold, the gap will be bridged by picking additional women as per party lists. Political parties will submit a list of members to be nominated.

It is hoped that by that time, both genders will have been given a level playing field and will be able to compete on an equal plane.

The Constitution requires application of the rule in elective and appointive offices and in effect, imposes an obligation on the State to put in place legislative measures to ensure offices and bodies constituted adhere to this principle.

The laws that are targeted for review are the Elections Act, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Act, the Political Parties Act, the County Governments Act and the National Gender and Equality Commission Act.

Presently, the Kenyan Parliament is ranked 70th globally in implementation of the gender rule and last among East African Community countries, according to recent reports by the Inter Parliamentary Union, where the country is a member.

Rwanda tops the list of 135 member states globally and regionally.

For county governments, the requirement is ingrained in Article 175, 177, 197 of the Constitution, but the county assemblies have already implemented the principal.

The law seeks to ensure the number of special seats shall be determined after the declaration of the number of members elected to ensure not more than two-thirds of the National Assembly and Senate membership is of either gender after the general election.

One-year period

It will ensure the membership in the bicameral system of Parliament conforms to the gender principal set out in law.

“Article 81 (b) of the Constitution provides that the electoral system shall comply with Article 27(8), stating that not more than two-thirds of the members of elective public bodies shall be of the same gender,” reads a memo of the bill tabled yesterday.

Despite the Supreme Court and High Court orders, the National Assembly may, by a resolution supported by the votes of at least two-thirds of all members of the House, extend the period prescribed in respect of any particular matter by not more than one year.