Africa, Africa: Women from P♂lls to P♀lls, Civil Society, Development & Aid, Gender, Headlines, Human Rights, Poverty & SDGs, Women in Politics

KENYA: More Women in Parliament, Hopefully – By Way of the Constitution

Joyce Mulama

NAIROBI, Aug 9 2007 (IPS) - Kenya’s parliament will soon debate a constitutional amendment bill to improve female representation in the legislature by creating 50 special seats for women. At present, only some eight percent of parliamentary posts in the East African country are occupied by women.

The bill is scheduled for discussion Aug. 14, to be adopted or rejected in its entirety the same day. Over 2,000 women from across Kenya will be present at parliament to lobby legislators to vote for the bill.

An initiative to gather a million signatures in support of the amendment is also underway: the ‘1,000,000 Signatures Campaign for 50 Women’s Seats in Parliament’ was launched Aug. 7, and has seen women activists and politicians march through the streets of the capital, Nairobi, and surrounding areas.

The 50 slots will form part of 78 extra seats being added to parliament, bringing the total number of posts to 300; the proposed change also allows for an increase in the number of constituencies from 210 to 250.

Women would be nominated to the 50 special seats, ensuring that almost 17 percent of posts were in female hands at all times. This proportion would rise according to the number of women who won legislative seats (Kenya’s next general election is slated for December this year). At present, 12 posts in the 222-seat legislature are filled with nominated persons, with no gender restrictions on this quota.

“It has been a tough task negotiating and persuading our male counterparts (concerning) the special seats, until we settled for the 50,” said Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Martha Karua recently.

Certain male politicians have argued that the proposed amendment amounts to discrimination against men. However, activists say the bill simply seeks to correct the exclusion of women from parliamentary representation that has resulted from outdated views of the role they should play in society.

“This is a form of affirmative action…a short term measure that can be employed to eradicate gross disparities even in parliamentary representation,” said Eddah Gachukia, who helped convene the National Women Leaders Negotiating Committee – the body that has been leading consultations between women’s rights activists and politicians about the amendment.

A number of women’s rights activists have also taken aim at the suggested change. They say that the 17 percent of posts it guarantees falls well short of the threshold needed for women to have a real voice in the legislature; generally, this threshold is put at 30 percent of seats.

However, most see the amendment as a useful stepping stone. “Can we pocket the 50 seats we have been offered first and then continue with the struggle?” asked Gachukia.

The criteria according to which the seats are allocated may also prove a bone of contention, with questions already being raised over which women’s groups and movements are more deserving.

At a recent meeting, women with disabilities demanded that they be given special consideration in the nominations – as did those living with HIV/AIDS. Similarly, Maendeleo ya Wanawake (“Development for Women”, in Swahili) argued that since it was a nationwide movement, it was entitled to more seats than smaller groups. Other organisations are following suit.

In the face of these debates, Karua is emphasising that allocation of seats is of secondary importance for the moment – and that all energies must go into having the bill passed: “Let us first stick our neck inside. Once we are there, we can then start talking of who gets what.”

With just 18 women elected and nominated to parliament – the highest number ever – Kenya has become the regional laggard concerning women’s legislative representation. Neighbouring Tanzania has achieved a 30.4 percent representation, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and Uganda a 29.8 representation.

Rwanda, a little further afield, has women in 48.8 percent of seats in the lower house of parliament, and in 34.6 percent of posts in the upper house.

“The status of women in Kenya is not acceptable. The number of women in parliament should not continue to be at a small percentage when other, neighbouring countries have taken steps to rectify the situation,” said Elizabeth Lwanga, the United Nations Resident Co-ordinator in Kenya, citing Rwanda and Uganda as countries where affirmative action laws had been enacted to improve women’s representation in parliament.

In Rwanda, 30 percent of seats in the upper and lower houses are constitutionally reserved for women. Uganda increased its percentage of women legislators through creating special seats for women, also guaranteed under the constitution.

Kenya first ventured down the road of affirmative action several years ago, with a bill to this effect being tabled in parliament in 2000. However, the law was opposed by then president Daniel Arap Moi, and subsequently shelved.

Three years later, affirmative action measures were included in a draft constitution intended to replace Kenya’s independence era constitution. The draft was rejected in a referendum held in November 2005, putting affirmative action on the backburner once again.

In the midst of efforts to provide women with more nominated seats, parliamentary hopeful Joyce Majiwa says it is important that women continue to participate and make gains in elective politics.

“It is only elected members of parliament that can control constituency resources, including the Constituency Development Fund,” she told IPS, in reference to one of the major financial resources for improving living conditions in Kenya.

“Women must be part of overseeing development in constituencies. This means they must be elected,” added Majiwa, who is hoping to win a seat in Karachuonyo, western Kenya.