{"id":465988,"date":"2011-07-22T07:27:25","date_gmt":"2011-07-22T07:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/07\/22\/kenya-surely-the-gender-equity-campaign-must-be-tempered-with-some-reason\/"},"modified":"2011-07-22T07:27:25","modified_gmt":"2011-07-22T07:27:25","slug":"kenya-surely-the-gender-equity-campaign-must-be-tempered-with-some-reason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/22\/kenya-surely-the-gender-equity-campaign-must-be-tempered-with-some-reason\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya: Surely, the Gender Equity Campaign Must Be Tempered With Some Reason!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Jackson Mwalulu<\/p>\n

21 July 2011<\/p>\n

\n

opinion<\/p>\n

Nairobi \u2014 Columnist Macharia Gaitho’s commentary opposing the idea of special constituencies for women was right on the point.The debate for special constituencies for women is anchored on Article 27(8) of the Bill of Rights.<\/p>\n

It states: “The State shall take legislative and other measures to implement the principle that not more than two thirds of members of elective or appointive bodies shall be of the same gender.”<\/p>\n

The proponents for the creation of 72 special constituencies — who include the Interim Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IIBRC) — aver that unless we fulfil this requirement, the next Parliament risks being annulled by courts of law for being unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

The proposed method for arriving at one-third women MPs involves clustering four neighbouring constituencies and then balloting to pick which one of them fields a woman to run for Parliament.<\/p>\n

Simple calculations show that a third of all MPs in the next National Assembly of 349 MPs is 116, while the Senate will have 23 women. Added to the six nominated women, the total number of women in both the National Assembly and Senate comes to 125.<\/p>\n

Suffice it to say it was not for nothing that we crafted a constitution that outlaws discrimination or marginalisation of individuals or groups.<\/p>\n

It is a healthy principle for national development because it ensures optimal exploitation of talent. It is, however, unhealthy to appear to push things too far in the name of confronting discrimination.<\/p>\n

For one, it is not the case that discrimination, when it comes to representation, is the preserve of women, The youth, the disabled, pastoralists and even albinos are all disadvantaged minorities. Should we also expect these groups to line up in our courts of law to demand affirmative action?<\/p>\n

Two, Article 27(8) appears to contradict Article 27(1) of the same Bill of Rights, which goes: “Everyone is equal before the law, and has the right to equal protection and equal benefit of the law.”<\/p>\n

From a layman’s point of view, this provision cushions all, including males, from discrimination when it comes to electing representatives, or seeking elective positions.<\/p>\n

This calls for female gender activists and law experts to read Article 27(8) together with Article 27(1) to avert a constitutional rigmarole.<\/p>\n

But even logically, it would be offensive to force particular voters to elect a particular gender for MP. It is an affront to the very idea of democracy, whose very definition is freedom of choice.<\/p>\n

The idea that the women of Kenya today are a minority or discriminated against is somewhat far-fetched. The Kenyan woman has come a long way since the 1960s. Today, she competes almost fairly with the man in all fields, including politics. This explains why the number of female MPs has been steadily rising.<\/p>\n

The fact that women have not yet evened out with men in Parliament or local authorities can better be explained by women’s comparative low interest in politics and not lack of opportunities or capacity.<\/p>\n

And then, the proponents in this debate should explain their silence when it comes to military appointments.<\/p>\n

Recently, the President appointed five men in the seniormost ranks of the armed forces. How, pray, does this gel with Article 27 (8)?The point here is that for the country to reap maximum benefits from the new constitutional regime, care must be taken not to fall into the trap of pettiness.<\/p>\n

The absence of women from the military’s top echelons is explained by the fact that there are no women in that body to promote. But nothing has stopped them joining the military in droves as they have done with other professions.<\/p>\n

Still, the hair-splitters could easily challenge the President’s appointments in our courts of law and get a hearing based on Article 27(8).In the end, the Kenyan woman has sufficiently asserted that she is equal to the challenge of getting what she wants based on meritocracy. She should, therefore, banish the antiquated notion that she can only rise to positions of power through invitation.<\/p>\n

Those still stuck in this past should be reminded that they are hurting the cause of women empowerment, and by extension, development.<\/p>\n

Mr Mwalulu is a former Taveta MP and a founder member of Youth Agenda (jmwalulu@hotmail.com)<\/em><\/p>\n

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\nKenya: Surely, the Gender Equity Campaign Must Be Tempered With Some Reason!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jackson Mwalulu 21 July 2011 opinion Nairobi \u2014 Columnist Macharia Gaitho’s commentary opposing the idea of special constituencies for women was right on the point.The debate for special constituencies for women is anchored on Article 27(8) of the Bill of Rights. It states: “The State shall take legislative and other measures to implement the principle that not more than two thirds of members of elective or appointive bodies shall be of the same gender.” The proponents for the creation of 72 special constituencies — who include the Interim Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IIBRC) — aver that unless we fulfil this requirement, the next Parliament risks being annulled by courts of law for being unconstitutional. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-465988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nKenya: Surely, the Gender Equity Campaign Must Be Tempered With Some Reason! - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/22\/kenya-surely-the-gender-equity-campaign-must-be-tempered-with-some-reason\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Kenya: Surely, the Gender Equity Campaign Must Be Tempered With Some Reason! - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Jackson Mwalulu 21 July 2011 opinion Nairobi \u2014 Columnist Macharia Gaitho's commentary opposing the idea of special constituencies for women was right on the point.The debate for special constituencies for women is anchored on Article 27(8) of the Bill of Rights. 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