NAIROBI, 20 August (IPS): Activists in Kenya have resumed efforts to legislate an increase in the number of women occupying seats in the East African countrys parliament, after a constitutional amendment bill that would have created 50 special seats for women was thrown out by the governing body.
Men occupy about 90 percent of seats in the legislature, and thus determine whether bills are passed or not.
Ahead of the vote on the bill, efforts were made to gather a million signatures in support of the amendment; women activists and politicians also marched in the capital, Nairobi, and surrounding areas to throw their weight behind the law.
Nonetheless, the bill was thrown out August 15 when the number of MPs in the legislature proved too few for a vote on the law to go ahead. While at least 145 of the 222 parliamentarians were needed for a quorum, only 95 were in the house.
Lack of support for the amendment appears to have been less a result of opposition to affirmative action, however, than of concern about a clause in the legislation that provided for 40 new constituencies. Kenya currently has 210 constituencies.
Opponents of government claim that it would use new constituencies to its advantage in the December general elections, and certain MPs accused officials of acting in bad faith by including the provision for new constituencies in the amendment bill alongside the stipulation for womens seats.
Legislators have advised that a bill dealing only with women’s representation in parliament be put forward when the amendment is allowed to be re-tabled, in six months time.
Kenya has some way to go before catching up with its neighbours concerning womens presence in parliament. Its current legislature boasts the highest number of female MPs in the countrys history: 18.
However, this amounts to just 8,1 percent of legislators, compared to a female representation of 30,4 percent in Tanzania, and 29,8 percent in Uganda according to figures from the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
Rwanda, also in the East African region, has women in no less than 48,8 percent of seats in the lower house of parliament, and in 34,6 percent of seats in the upper house.
Both Rwanda and Uganda have constitutional measures to guarantee women’s representation in the legislature.
It is widely accepted that women need to occupy about 30 percent of seats in national legislatures for them to begin exercising influence over parliamentary affairs.
The constitutional amendment bill would have ensured that a minimum of about 17 percent of parliamentary seats in Kenya were occupied by women at all times; women were to have been nominated to the 50 new seats.
Kenya first attempted to introduce affirmative action legislation in 2000, in a bill that was subsequently rejected by Daniel Arap Moi, president between 1978 and 2002. The proposed law was then shelved.
Affirmative action measures were included too in a draft constitution drawn up by the National Constitutional Conference, which met during 2003 and 2004 to review Kenyas independence era constitution. However, this draft was rejected in a 2005 referendum.
Certain female MPs and activists have emphasised that creating special seats for women in parliament only goes part of the way to ensuring political equality between the sexes, and that women must strive to win more elective positions.
However, female candidates in Kenya face a host of obstacles, not least a lack of campaign resources, and traditional views of women that make little allowance for activities outside of the domestic sphere.
Kilder: IPS og The Push Journal
