Blow to women as MPs fail to pass two-thirds gender rule Bill

Blow to women as MPs fail to pass two-thirds gender rule Bill

The National Assembly on Wednesday failed to pass the Constitution Amendment Bill of 2015 which seeks to ensure that no gender occupies more than two-thirds of the Parliamentary seats.

The Bill, which required 233 (two thirds) members to vote in favour for it to proceed to the third reading stage, failed to meet the required threshold after only 195 out of the 233 members present voting in support.

The Bill, published by National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale, would require any shortage in the number of gender representation be covered party nominations.

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi has, however, given the Bill a new lifeline after ordering a fresh vote on May 5th at 2PM to allow time for consultation within party ranks.

Chairperson of The National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) Winfred Lichuma had on Wednesday called on MPs to support the Bill regardless of their political affiliations.

Speaking on Citizen TV’s Cheche, Lichuma said: “Political representation has been a challenge in the country since independence. Courtesy of Article 177 (1B) of the Constitution we were able to meet the two third gender rule in county assemblies.”

“We needed to implement a method that works by encouraging men and women to support the Bill, hence the Bill.”

Lichuma further noted that the bill would be beneficial to men as well if at some point Kenyans are more inclined to voting for women than men

In addition to increasing the number of women in the National Assembly, the Bill also seeks to create a two-term limit for the beneficiaries hence eliminating the possibilities of perennial members.

Speaking in support of the Bill, Kibra MP Ken Okoth stated that there must be political will in the drive for the implementation of the Constitution ahead of the 2017 elections.

There have however been reservations that the Bill would burgeon the government wage bill since it will bring the number of MPs in the House to close to 450.

The method of nomination has also been a point of contention since there is no structure that guides the nomination process.

“There have been such concerns and that is why we need IEBC to come in and regulate the nomination process by making it competitive,” said Lichuma.

MPs will not have another chance to vote for the Bill when it is tabled before the House next Thursday.

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Gender bill

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