KIRUKU: A massive protest can clear Uhurus eyes on womens rights

KIRUKU: A massive protest can clear Uhurus eyes on womens rights

It is a week of tears and disappointment for Kenyan women, having lost a major constitutional battle. The deadline for the passage of the two-thirds gender rule elapsed without a word from the government, signalling another potentially bruising court battle to force the powers that be to implement the constitutionally-enshrined provision.

The government is instead proposing an extension of one year for nine constitutional Bills, among them the Gender Bill. One wonders what the government intends to do in the next one year that it could not do over the past six months since the Bill first failed to make headway in parliament. It is a clear sign of the Jubilee government’s laxity in implementing the constitution where women issues are concerned.

It is indeed a crying shame that Kenya, the largest economy in East Africa, has failed to provide leadership in the region. There shouldn’t be any debate about respecting its own constitution and upholding gender equity.

Rwanda, commendably, has a women-majority legislature. It’s track record in development is certainly related to this fact, and countries like Kenya shouldn’t be dragging the whole region behind.

The proposal by Kenya’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament to set aside a five-year deadline by amending Article 81(b) of the Constitution so that the gender principle is achieved progressively is not just an insult to Kenyan women, it is a clear reflection of how the current regime is lukewarm in implementing the constitution.

Implementing the two-thirds gender requirement is no favour to Kenyan women as some politicians would want the citizens to believe, but a right. It is the decent thing to do for a government that claims to value the contribution of women to the life and economy of the country, especially considering that women constitute more than half of the population.

The constitution is not just a piece of paper with some beautifully-crafted words. No, it is a legally binding document – the supreme law of the land – whose every clause must be implemented in the letter and spirit in which it was drafted.

Sadly, even opposition parties that should be calling the government to account are issuing empty statements, perhaps to avoid being seen as too abrasive in the run-up to 2017.

The largest opposition party, the CORD Coalition, is instead preferring that the matter be taken to court so that a definite cut-off date can be set. The party holds that the court should give clear deadlines, rather than give Jubilee the leeway to extend the period indefinitely. While this is a welcome move, Kenyan women expected a more aggressive approach to the issue from the opposition side.

When it came to electoral reforms, the opposition did not wait for courts to show the way. No, their leaders and supporters took to the streets, guns blazing. While violent demonstrations are to be eschewed, women’s rights should not be treated as lesser issues.

According to Article 261(7), Parliament can be disbanded for failing to enact laws for constitutional implementation unless members can rally a two-thirds majority vote to extend the deadline, which in this case requires 233 members. Jubilee has a shortfall of 16 members. 

As matters stand, the Kenyan government is wrongly constituted and anyone can go to court and demand its disbandment.

Women parliamentarians, both elected and appointed, have been turned into smiling flower girls with no teeth to bite and fight for Wanjiku. Even as the deadline elapses, the MPs remain dead silent.

Whatever gains the ruling coalition may have made as far as women empowerment is concerned have now been watered down by its failure to enhance women representation in its government.

Equally unfortunate is the silence by the once-fiery civil society organisations in Kenya, who have either gone to bed with the government or simply decided it’s too costly to be in the wrong books with the ruling elite..

Religious organisations have similarly taken cue. Corrupt and morally rotten politicians are highly valued for their generous contributions toward church activities, and it would therefore be asking too much of religious leaders  to champion any worthy cause that brushes the establishment the wrong way.

It’s back to the drawing board, then. It is now the duty of everyone who cares about gender equality to play their part and compel the government to implement the two-thirds gender rule.

The honourable thing is not for the government to bury its head in the sand and let any heat dissipate with time. It must provide guidance and clear timelines on implementation of the gender principle; it could still save face from yet another public scandal – and the global shame arising from a massive women’s protest.

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