Zipporah Kittony (l) former chair of Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organisation, Justin Muturi (c) chair of the Centre For Multiparty Democracy, and Alice Wahome, vice-chair of the CMD (r) addressing journalists in Nairobi on Dec. 13. Credit: Brian Ngugi/IPS

By Brian Ngugi
NAIROBI , Dec 14 2012 (IPS)

Kenya’s rights activists are furious that the country’s highest court “violated” women’s constitutional rights by ruling against the implementation of a gender quota in parliament ahead of the 2013 general elections.

Activists here are threatening to boycott the Mar. 4, 2013 elections and bring the government to a standstill unless the gender parity law, which states that no more than two-thirds of one gender should hold elected office, is enforced in the senate and national assembly in the upcoming elections.

Rukia Subow, chair of Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organisation, the largest women’s rights NGO in Kenya, told IPS that this East African nation was headed for a constitutional crisis if it failed to heed the provisions of the 2010 constitution.

The Kenya Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday, Dec. 11 that the constitutional provision calling for a mandatory one-third gender representation would not apply to next year’s general election and instead should be implemented progressively by August 2015.

“We respect the Supreme Court, but still we have to fight its ruling even if it means going to higher courts in the region. We will ensure that there will be no parliament next year as it will be unconstitutional should we fail to implement the gender principle,” she said, adding that the organisation would see to it that the principle was implemented by “any means necessary.”

As the Supreme Court is the highest court in the country, the next court of appeal would be the East African Court of Justice.

Article 81 (b) of the constitution provides that “not more than two-thirds of the members of elective public bodies shall be of the same gender.”

Further, Article 27(8) of the constitution states that there shall be legislation to provide for the above principle. But the failure of parliament to pass this legislation prompted the attorney general Githu Muigai to petition the Supreme Court for an interpretation on how the country should attain the gender equity principle.

In the landmark decision by four of the five judges hearing the case, Jackton Boma Ojwang, Njoki Ndung’u, Philip Tunoi and Smoking Wanjala ruled that the one-third gender requirement for the national assembly and senate could not be enforced in the 2013 elections.

They said that the historical marginalisation of women in elective politics could not be resolved by quotas but would only be realised over time and in stages.

The fifth judge on the bench, the country’s chief justice Willy Mutunga, ruled in favour of the principle being implemented ahead of the upcoming elections.

According to Rose Waruhiu, a prominent Kenyan women’s rights activist and former member of the East African Legislative Assembly, the ruling is a blow to the empowerment of women.

“The women of Kenya are seeing this as a blatant and direct violation of women’s constitutional rights of equality and non-discrimination based on sex. The ruling makes a charade of the whole idea of constitutionalism and is the ultimate insult to Kenyan women, women around the world, and in essence the Kenyan people,” Waruhiu told IPS.

The Centre for Multiparty Democracy Kenya has consequently advised political parties to immediately file a case with the East African Court of Justice, to force Kenya to observe gender equality in elective and appointive public positions.

According to the lobby’s chair, Justin Muturi, Kenya “is the only country within the East African community which has not (achieved) this.”

“We have resolved to sensitise Kenyans around the theme ‘no women, no elections on March 2013’, unless and until women are included in public office as stipulated in the constitution,” Muturi told IPS during a press conference in Nairobi on Thursday Dec. 13.

“The Supreme Court ruling effectively denied women their constitutional right to fair representation. We hold the view that the Supreme Court itself has failed to uphold the constitution and it is time the people who hold sovereign authority acted to stop further erosion of constitutional provisions,” added Muturi.

Meanwhile, Waruhiu said the court ruling was a fraudulent act.

“It has set women back in a big way. More importantly, however, it’s not a women’s issue, but an issue at the heart of our constitution. It’s about the affront to the sovereign will of the people,” said Waruhiu, who is also the vice chair of the Democratic Party of Kenya.

“Women of Kenya do not, and will not, accept a zero or minimalist approach in terms of the fulfilment of their constitutional rights. They are entitled to them as a matter of course, they fought for independence, and they continue to carry the greatest burden in building this nation,” she said.

Her comments were echoed by Winnie Lichuma, the chair of the National Gender and Equality Commission, the body charged with women’s empowerment in Kenya. She told IPS that women must demand that the principle be implemented immediately and not in stages.

“The gender equity principle on representation must be implemented now and can’t wait,” she said. Political representation for women in the current Kenyan parliament is considered low at only 9.8 percent, according to Lichuma.

Prior to the controversial ruling, the country was awash with heated debate about how the principle could be achieved.

Some legislators had said that it should not be implemented in the 2013 general elections. However, the attorney general and other observers had said that if the gender rule was not implemented, Kenya would head towards a constitutional crisis.

“This action by the highest court in the land of Kenya, if left uncorrected, would widen the inequality gap between men and women in leadership positions,” said Waruhiu.

A man walks past the general service unit with his kid during the inter-ethnic riots in Kenya's Eastleigh suburb. Credit: Brian Ngugi/IPS

By Brian Ngugi
NAIROBI, Dec 1 2012 (IPS)

The wave of insecurity that has hit Kenya in the last few months is causing severe damage to the country’s recovering economy, local economists have warned.

Abdi Mohammed, an investment analyst at Stanbic Investment Management Service, told IPS that even though the real extent of the damage to the country’s economy has yet to be quantified, key sectors are losing money due to unprecedented levels of insecurity.

Over the past year, the country has witnessed a spate of terror-related attacks on civilians, which have been mostly blamed on Somalia’s Islamic militant group Al-Shabaab. These attacks have prompted travel advisories from nations such as the United Kingdom and the United States, which have urged their citizens to keep away from this East African nation.

Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere told IPS that Kenya has witnessed a total of 58 grenade attacks carried out by suspected Al-Shabaab sympathisers this year, which caused the deaths of 67 people and injured a further 308.

And according to Mohammed, among the sectors worst hit by this violence is the tourism industry, especially as it heads into peak season in December.

Mohammed told IPS that if the level of instability here escalated, Kenya’s fragile sense of business confidence would be hurt, both locally and internationally. 

“We understand already that many potential investors are reconsidering whether to relocate their investments if insecurity persists,” said Mohammed.

His comments were echoed by Johnson Nderi, researcher for Corporate Finance at Suntra Investment Bank in Nairobi, who said that the country’s economy had been affected to the tune of millions of dollars on a monthly basis.

“The image being propagated around the globe of all these incidents of insecurity will wear away at the recently-renewed investor confidence in the country. In real terms and in due time we will be able to tell the damage to the economy, but it is happening now,” he told IPS.

Internal Security Minister Katoo Ole Metito also said that terrorism was one of the most crucial challenges faced by security agencies in the country.

“I want to assure Kenyans that we are committed to fighting terrorism in this country and we need their support,” Metito said last month.

Kenyan business leaders, in interviews with IPS, said that the government needed to deal firmly with the rising insecurity.

“Among the Kenyan business community there is serious concern about what is happening in the country,” Vimal Shah, the chairman of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, told IPS.

“The continuing episodes of disorder are hurting sectors like tourism directly, as visitors are keeping away. But it is also having an impact on retail trade, as we have seen in many towns,” he said.

According to Patrick Obath, the chair of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, the country’s image as a business destination of choice is being hurt internationally and this might delay foreign direct investment in the country.

“Kenya is a very stable country but due to these security challenges we are, in the short term, bound to see investments delayed,” Obath told IPS.

His comments were echoed by Fred Kaigua, the chief executive of the Kenya Association of Tour Operators, who said: “We would like the government to step up intelligence as well as its response to cases of violence in the country.”

Meanwhile, the increased insecurity has given rise to fear and suspicion of foreigners, especially Somalis.

Mohammed Hirsi, 64, a businessman in Kenya’s Eastleigh suburb, located two kilometres east of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, is among hundreds of affluent traders of Somali descent who have been affected.

On Nov. 18 suspected terrorists killed seven passengers and injured 30 others in a blast that occurred inside a matatu or mini-bus taxi in the area. Inter-ethnic clashes and looting broke out and lasted until Nov. 20 as locals blamed the immigrant Somali community for the terrorist activity.

Hirsi’s supermarket is among the many Somali-owned businesses that were looted in the rampage. In the ensuing two-day melee, more than 30 casualties were reported at the Kenyatta National Hospital, while contingents of police and soldiers were deployed in an effort to contain the situation.

Since then fear and suspicion have remained rife in the area.

“The attacks and the ensuing revenge looting, in which I lost goods worth millions of shillings, have dented the long years of good relations between Somali and non-Somali communities living here,” an obviously bitter Hirsi told IPS.

“We feel these attacks on the Muslim community are being carried out by ignorant individuals who are targeting Muslims, especially Somalis, primarily due to their religion,” he said, adding that his fellow Somali businessmen are living in constant fear of further reprisal attacks.

Local residents are indifferent to opinions like his, however.

According to one, John Njoroge, the Somali community in the area is culpable of abetting the terrorists by failing to report to police the names of Al-Shabaab sympathisers who live among both communities.

“If they maintain that they are law-abiding citizens, why have they been reluctant to report the criminal elements among them to the police?” Njoroge asked IPS.

The country’s two leading politicians, President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, have since broken their silence over the recent attacks.

Speaking when he led the launch of the national voter registration exercise in the capital on Nov. 19, Kibaki issued a stern warning to those planning to disrupt the process, saying they would face the full force of the law.

Kibaki said the government had already stepped up security around the nation to ensure that the process went smoothly.

“Please don’t seek to be forgiven for any mischief you do, because whoever you are we shall take action,” a tough-talking Kibaki said. “There is no point in anybody trying to mess up an election. Nobody has a right to interfere.”

By Brian Ngugi
NAIROBI, Nov 2 2012 (IPS)

As Kenya gets ready for voter registration this month, ahead of the country’s Mar. 4, 2013 polls, women’s rights organisations are hoping that the provisions for gender equality in the new constitution will mean significantly increased representation in the government.

Winnie Lichuma, chairwoman of the National Gender and Equality Commission, the body charged with women’s empowerment in this East African nation, is guardedly optimistic.

“With regard to political representation in the current parliament, women are at only 9.8 percent, which is very low,” she said.

She told IPS that the country needed to “wise up to women’s leadership” as it prepared for the general elections – the first since Kenya adopted a new constitution in 2010 that recognises women’s rights and makes provisions for their representation in parliament.

Article 177 (1) (b) of the constitution seeks to provide a mechanism for the two-third gender principle at county level. The principle ensures that no gender shall exceed two-thirds representation in public, elective and appointive bodies.

Lichuma said that the constitution’s provisions meant that the number of women represented at county level would increase overall. According to the new constitution, 47 counties will now replace the provincial and local government administration systems.

She said that women would soon “be represented at the highest decision-making level of governance.

“The campaign message for women is that they should come out in large numbers, register in political parties and take part in the competitive elective process. If they do not meet the one-third gender requirement, political parties will nominate women based on proportional representation by use of political party lists, as provided in article 90 (1) of the constitution,” she said.

Voter registration is set to begin on Nov. 12.

Excerpts of the interview follow.

Q: Have there been any notable gains made by women in Kenya since the promulgation of the new constitution two years ago?

A: First, I think it is a very unfair question to put to the women of Kenya. I do not think the same can be asked of men.

However, I wish to note that women have been discriminated against for a long time and have been absent in the public sphere, their roles being relegated to the private sphere. Women have now benefited from the gender equality and freedom from discrimination principle in the constitution where they are now entitled to a 30 percent representation in public, elective and appointive positions.

All the new public bodies, especially the constitutional commissions and judiciary, have paid attention to the two-thirds gender principle. The implementation of the two-thirds principle is an on-going process, however, and only after the next general election will we really appreciate its impact.

Q: Clearly there is a huge disparity in the number of men compared to women in critical decision-making areas in both the political and corporate arena. Why is this?

A: The answer is obvious. Historically, women have been locked out of the public sector. There has been very little effort made to increase women’s representation in the political and corporate arena. Socio-cultural barriers have worked against women and hindered their representation at this level.

Sometimes women’s reproductive roles are used to deny them entry into the corporate arena. This is bound to change thanks to the constitution.

Q: Are Kenyan women ready to face their male counterparts in the upcoming political contest?

A: Well, the law is on the side of women but many other barriers are still there. The barriers that women have experienced politically include ideological and social-cultural ones. (Women also have to deal with) violence, especially sexual-based violence, limited resources and the fact that the majority of political parties are in the hands of the male gender.

Women also lack support from family members. In some communities clans have only endorsed male candidates to run, especially in the pastoral communities.

Women are ready but these barriers, coupled with the male propaganda that seems to have convinced Kenyans that women can only run for the seats set aside for women, is a blow to female candidates.

Q: There have been calls for countries to adopt gender-responsive budgeting, where public finance is planned with gender dynamics in mind. How does Kenya fare in its adoption?

A: The commission has supported the Ministry of Finance and Planning to mainstream issues of gender in the budgeting process. It is somewhat challenging … We urgently need to strengthen the capacity of the officers responsible for planning and budgeting in sector working groups and at the planning and finance level.

Guidelines on this also need to be well understood by all the players, and the commission has been looking at the process of coming up with gender-responsive budgeting guidelines. We are, however, still working to refine the tools that will be used in future budgeting.

Q: Rwanda is said to be doing well in the fair representation of women in government. It is the first and only government in the world where women make up the majority of members of parliament. What can we learn from them?

A: The key to their success is political goodwill. Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame is a firm supporter of women’s representation, which in turn has helped to increase representation of women at all levels of government including in political circles.

Q: Does the Kenyan government have the same political goodwill?

A: It is a gradual process but over time we are seeing many in the government warm up to the idea of fair representation for women.