Woman Representative joins calls for Constitutional amendment

Murang’a county women representative Sabina Wanjiru Chege has proposed a Constitutional amendment that seeks to reserve 70 parliamentary seats for women.

Speaking in Murang’a on Tuesday during a sensitisation meeting organised by Kenya Women Parliamentary Association (KEWOPA), Wanjiru said the country needs a 15-year plan in which every election year, 70 constituencies are set aside for women to be voted as “women constituency representative”.

Advocating for increased women involvement in leadership, Wanjiru said women were tired of empty promises to equal treatment saying all they need as women, is the realisation of constitutional gender principle as required by the law saying the rest can be filled through nomination.

She noted that by doing so, it will help ensure women are given a chance to represent the constituencies adding that nominated people tend to be looked down upon even by colleagues and residents.

Giving senate and county assembly as an example, Wanjiru said nominated women cannot even vote adding that those on county level are not even in leadership of the various committees thus do not fully participate as they are supposed to.

“The gender rule is a controversial issue at the county and national government, the problem is the number of women holding elective positions. The constitution has already given clear guidelines but as a country we have failed to achieve the required threshold, even after nominating women to parliament,” she said

She called on parliament to consider the 2015 Amendment Bill proposed by Ainamoi MP Samuel Chepkonga which provided for the amendment of Article 81(b) of the constitution so that the gender principle is achieved progressively in a five year plan.

Wanjiru supported the bill by Majority leader Aden Duale saying it seeks to have additional women in leadership if the election does not meet the threshold and it would be achieved by picking additional women as per party list.

She added that the proposal by Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria to scrap off women representatives’ position was not a solution to the third gender rule and instead asked Kuria to give a clear road map on how the country will achieve the gender rule without women positions.