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KENYA: Gender Quota

KENYA: Gender Quota Female representation in the next parliament must improve.Kenya's High Court on March 29th gave parliament 60 days to enact legislation that would make it obligatory to have more female lawmakers, or face dissolution.The 2010 constitution requires that no more than two thirds of lawmakers should be men, a principle hailed at the time as a big step towards equality.However the current male‐dominated parliament has repeatedly rejected legislation to enforce this.Four rights groups had petitioned the courts to compel parliament to enact such a law before a general election on August 8th, saying there was a risk of a constitutional crisis.High Court Judge John Mativo said that by failing to pass the required law, parliament was guilty of a “gross violation” of the constitution.He said that if parliament failed to enact the legislation within the stipulated time, “the petitioners or any other person shall be at liberty to petition the Honourable Chief Justice to advise the president to dissolve parliament.”The constitution gave parliament until August 2015 to enact the legislation, a deadline which was then extended by a year.While Kenya's last election in 2013 landed more women than ever in parliament with 68 of 349 seats in the National Assembly, the country still lags behind much of the region in opening up politics to women.World leader Rwanda has 61.3% of women in its lower house of parliament, followed by Ethiopia with 38%, Burundi with 36% and South Sudan with 28%, according to the Geneva‐based International Parliamentary Union (IPU).The improved showing of women in 2013 was largely due to another constitutional provision requiring that 47 “women representatives” be elected.Kenyan analyst Nanjala Nyabola wrote recently that this had actually taken female politicians backward, as they were seen as only present to deal with women's issues rather than participating as “full parliamentarians.”Victor Kamau, lawyer for the Kenya National Commission for Human Rights which was one of the petitioners, hailed the ruling.“The constitution… has been enforced, it has been brought alive in this judgement and we have been reminded as a people that this is the constitution we all aspired for,” he told reporters after the hearing. (©AFP 29/3 2017)Opposition Tallying Centre: The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga on April 2nd said the National Super Alliance (NSA) will tally and announce its own results in the August elections.He said “The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) will announce their results … and we will announce ours from our tallying centre for comparison.” We will not accept fake results as happened in 2013 at Bomas of Kenya,” he said at a political rally in Nairobi. (Daily Nation website, Nairobi 3/4)Jubilee Primaries Chaos: On April 22nd, President Uhuru Kenyatta blamed huge voter turnout for the chaos at his party's primaries on April 21st, which led to them being cancelled.In many areas across the country, there were delays, with some skirmishes also reported as contestants accused their opponents of rigging.Kenyatta admitted to reporters that not enough election materials had been provided for the primaries held to prepare for the national poll in August, saying his Jubilee Party had underestimated the number of people who would turn out for the nominations.The party was holding primaries in 21 out of the 47 counties on April 21st, most of them party strongholds.The election authorities have said that primaries must be held by April 26th. According to the Daily Nation website (24/4), representatives from 14 political parties had asked the IEBC for an extension, but this had been refused.A week earlier, similar polls for the opposition ODM witnessed violence, particularly in the western Kenya region. (BBC News Online 22/4; Daily Nation website 24/4) http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series Wiley

KENYA: Gender Quota

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Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
ISSN
0001-9844
eISSN
1467-825X
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-825X.2017.07611.x
Publisher site
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Abstract

Female representation in the next parliament must improve.Kenya's High Court on March 29th gave parliament 60 days to enact legislation that would make it obligatory to have more female lawmakers, or face dissolution.The 2010 constitution requires that no more than two thirds of lawmakers should be men, a principle hailed at the time as a big step towards equality.However the current male‐dominated parliament has repeatedly rejected legislation to enforce this.Four rights groups had petitioned the courts to compel parliament to enact such a law before a general election on August 8th, saying there was a risk of a constitutional crisis.High Court Judge John Mativo said that by failing to pass the required law, parliament was guilty of a “gross violation” of the constitution.He said that if parliament failed to enact the legislation within the stipulated time, “the petitioners or any other person shall be at liberty to petition the Honourable Chief Justice to advise the president to dissolve parliament.”The constitution gave parliament until August 2015 to enact the legislation, a deadline which was then extended by a year.While Kenya's last election in 2013 landed more women than ever in parliament with 68 of 349 seats in the National Assembly, the country still lags behind much of the region in opening up politics to women.World leader Rwanda has 61.3% of women in its lower house of parliament, followed by Ethiopia with 38%, Burundi with 36% and South Sudan with 28%, according to the Geneva‐based International Parliamentary Union (IPU).The improved showing of women in 2013 was largely due to another constitutional provision requiring that 47 “women representatives” be elected.Kenyan analyst Nanjala Nyabola wrote recently that this had actually taken female politicians backward, as they were seen as only present to deal with women's issues rather than participating as “full parliamentarians.”Victor Kamau, lawyer for the Kenya National Commission for Human Rights which was one of the petitioners, hailed the ruling.“The constitution… has been enforced, it has been brought alive in this judgement and we have been reminded as a people that this is the constitution we all aspired for,” he told reporters after the hearing. (©AFP 29/3 2017)Opposition Tallying Centre: The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga on April 2nd said the National Super Alliance (NSA) will tally and announce its own results in the August elections.He said “The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) will announce their results … and we will announce ours from our tallying centre for comparison.” We will not accept fake results as happened in 2013 at Bomas of Kenya,” he said at a political rally in Nairobi. (Daily Nation website, Nairobi 3/4)Jubilee Primaries Chaos: On April 22nd, President Uhuru Kenyatta blamed huge voter turnout for the chaos at his party's primaries on April 21st, which led to them being cancelled.In many areas across the country, there were delays, with some skirmishes also reported as contestants accused their opponents of rigging.Kenyatta admitted to reporters that not enough election materials had been provided for the primaries held to prepare for the national poll in August, saying his Jubilee Party had underestimated the number of people who would turn out for the nominations.The party was holding primaries in 21 out of the 47 counties on April 21st, most of them party strongholds.The election authorities have said that primaries must be held by April 26th. According to the Daily Nation website (24/4), representatives from 14 political parties had asked the IEBC for an extension, but this had been refused.A week earlier, similar polls for the opposition ODM witnessed violence, particularly in the western Kenya region. (BBC News Online 22/4; Daily Nation website 24/4)

Journal

Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series – Wiley

Published: May 1, 2017

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