When Roots Party presidential candidate George Wajackoyah made the announcement that he had chosen Justina Wambui Wamae as his running mate on May 5 this year, it marked a major statement in the fight for women's rights.
Later, on May 16, when Raila Odinga made his announcement, there was excitement and jubilation from various quarters when he chose Martha Karua as his running mate.
Presidential hopeful David Waihiga Mwaura would, later on, unveil Ruth Mutua as his running mate, adding to three the number of women running mates of presidential hopefuls and raising the probability of a woman occupying the office of the deputy president, also a historical first in Kenya.
During her acceptance speech upon her nomination Narc-Kenya leader Martha Karua described it as '' a moment for Kenyan women''.
"Women are instrumental in pursuing change, and this is why this is the moment to usher more women in at the national and county level to these leadership positions," she said.
While the announcements represented hope and a step forward for women representation it was still evident that there was still work to be done in overcoming the obstacle of cultural, political, and institutional preference for male representation.
As the dust settles from the August 9, 2022, General Election, the achievement of the two-thirds gender rule, as stipulated in the Constitution has, again, proved elusive.
More women elected
According to Article 81 of the Constitution "the electoral system shall comply with the principle that not more than two-thirds of the members of elective public bodies shall be of the same gender."
Last week's election registered a slight increase in the number of women elected to represent constituencies from 23 in 2017 to 27. The number of those that clinched senate seats remained the same with three women getting the seats, similar to the 2017 poll outcome.
The number of women governors increased from three to seven in this year's polls. The women governors are, Meru (Kawira Mwangaza), Machakos (Wavinya Ndeti), Kirinyaga (Ann Waiguru), Nakuru (Susan Kihika), Homabay (Gladys Wanga), Embu (Cecily Mbarire) and Kwale (Fatma Achani).
This means that parliament still requires over 35 more lawmakers to make a third of the 349 MPS. After the elections in 2017, it emerged that the composition of the 12th parliament fell below the threshold of not more than two-thirds of either gender.
The calculations showed that the country needed 117 women in Parliament and 23 in the Senate.
In the Senate, three women were elected, 16 nominated by political parties and two nominated (one to represent the youth and the other to represent persons with disabilities). Thus the count for the Senate is 21 hence a deficit of two.
Made progress
According to a report by the Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW), because the National Assembly had 23 women elected in single constituency seats, 47 elected county women representatives (CWRs) and six nominated women bringing the tally to 76, it had a deficit of 41 to fulfill the constitutional requirement.
However, the report Tracing the Journey: Towards Implementation of the Two-Thirds Gender Principle also shows the progress made over the years.
From Kenya's first Parliament in 1963, when there were no women elected to the legislature, there was marginal improvement over the first 20 years; 4.1 per cent in 1997; 8.1 per cent in 2002; and 9.8 per cent in 2007. After 2010, with the promulgation of the new Constitution, the numbers jumped from single digits to 16 in the 10th and 11th Parliaments and 23 in the recently dissolved 12th Parliament.
In this year's period ahead of the General Election, with Karua, Mutua, and Wamae becoming the honorary cheerleaders in the race for women representation, there was hope as women hit the campaign trails.
Compared to previous pre-election periods, the voices of women candidates were more amplified and they were more visible as they traversed the country in search of votes. Many leaders, both men, and women, openly condemned manifestations of discrimination such as gender-based violence on the campaign trail and also worked to fight gender stereotypes.
Across the country, they prepared to face the electorate as candidates for - Governor, Senator, Member of National Assembly (MP), Member of County Assembly and County Woman Member of National Assembly (Woman Representative).
As per the gazetted list of candidates in the 2022 General Election, out of the 14,000 candidates vying for the available 1,900 positions (47 governors, 47 senators, 47 women reps, 1450 MCAs, 290 MPs) only 60 were women. And were all 60 women to win the elections, the two-thirds gender quota would still not be met.
More women governors
Besides the seven governor seats won by women, many others have won tough battles to clinch various seats in various counties. Nakuru County, for example, stands out in women leadership with Governor, Senator, four MP seats and one MCA seat so far being occupied by women. The National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) has also applauded the election of more women in this year's election.
"...This is a thirty per cent increase in the number of women elected from the single constituency Member of Parliament in 2017 where only 23 were elected. The Parliament should consider as a key priority the enactment of laws to give effect to Article 81(b) and Article 100 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. The Commission shall continue to facilitate the Parliament realise this goal," NGEC Chairperson Dr. Joyce Mutinda, recently said.
But despite the increase, the two-thirds gender rule remains a mirage even with the several attempts by the members of Parliament and state actors to push it through.
The most recent and notable effort was through the drafters of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) who proposed an amendment to the 2010 constitution to implement the two-thirds gender rule but failed.
It had been touted by the drafters- Suna East MP Junet Mohammed and former Dagoreti south MP Dennis Waweru- as well as other backers as the surest way to achieve gender parity. The initiative was however declared unconstitutional.
Prior to that, Parliament had tried a record 10 times since the 10th,11th, 12th, and recently the 13th parliaments but to no avail.
The attempts were aimed at ensuring the implementation of Articles 27 (8) and 81(b) of the Constitution which would, in turn, warrant that not more than two-thirds of members in appointive and elective public bodies are of the same gender.
This requirement was to be implemented five years after the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution, but MPs revised the 2015 deadline by a year.
Historic advisory
In the 11th Parliament, women made up 19 per cent of the National Assembly and 27 per cent of the Senate. In the 12th Parliament, they constituted 21.78 per cent of the National Assembly and 30.88 per cent of the Senate.
According to the constitution, the percentage of women in parliament should not be less than 33 per cent.
This led to the historic advisory by former Chief Justice David Maraga for the dissolution of parliament for failure by the House to effect the gender rule. This, however also yielded no fruits. Maraga was acting on the premise of six petitions that had urged him to advise the President to dissolve parliament.
This was despite numerous court orders and an advisory opinion by the Supreme Court, which had directed Parliament to enact the requisite legislation by 27th August 2015.
A peel back of the pages of history shows that there have been various initiatives aimed at increasing the number of women representation in Parliament since as early as 2011.
Justice and legal affairs committee chairman at the National Assembly Samuel Chepkonga had 2015 tabled two bills; the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2015 and the Gender Rule Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015. They were both calling for the progressive implementation of Article 177 on the gender rule.
But as fate would have it, a majority of lawmakers did not show up on the voting day of the second reading. The Bill failed to sail through on the technicality that it was not supported by at least 233 of the 349 MPs (two-thirds majority).
Former National Assembly majority leader Aden Duale was also not successful with his quest to address the gender parity issue. His Bill, The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015, published on July 24,2015, sought to introduce a clause to provide for the nomination, from party lists, of the number of members necessary to ensure that the membership of the National Assembly and the Senate meet the gender requirement.
It also sought to limit the application of this mechanism to 20 years with a possibility of extension for a further 10 years if the minimum gender quota is not achieved.
On the voting day, it did not go through as members expressed concern that expanding parliament would only burden the taxpayers.
