GETTING IT RIGHT WOMEN REPRESENTATION, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND THE 2/3 GENDER PRINCIPLE IN KENYA POLITICAL REPRESentation OF WOMEN UGANDA 35% KENYA 19.7% RWANDA 63.8% TANZANIA 36% SOUTH AFRICA 41.9% • Political representation of Kenyan women (National Assembly) now stands at 19.7 percent versus Rwanda’s 63.8 percent, South Africa’s 41.9 percent, Tanzania’s 36 percent and Uganda’s 35 percent . (Inter-Parliamentary Union – www.ipu.org). WOMEN POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN KENYA: DID YOU KNOW THAT? Women Men = 2 The Kenya Parliament (The Senate and the National Assembly) consists of 418 mem- bers, out of which only 86 are women? The National Assem- bly has a total of 350 members (Including the Speaker), 68 of whom are women? 2 GETTING IT RIGHT : WOMEN REPRESENTATION, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND THE 2/3 GENDER PRINCIPLE IN KENYA The Senate has a total of 68 members (including the Speaker), 18 of whom are women (all nomi- nated). The National assembly at a glance 47 Out of the 290 Constituency seats Elected county in the National Assembly, only 16 MPS women (5.5 percent) are women 5 5.5% Nominated 16 women women MPs 94.5% 16 275 men women elected (constituency) MPs WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN KENYA’S 1ST – 11TH PARLIAMENTS TERM PERIOD TOTAL NO. OF TOTAL NO. NO. OF ELECTED WOMEN SUM TOTAL OF MEN VS NO NO. OF CONSTITUENCIES OF MPS VS MEN WOMEN MPS (ELECTED NOMINATED WOMEN (ELECTED & & NOMINATED) VS MEN NOMINATED) MEN WOMEN MEN WOMEN MEN WOMEN 1st Parliament 1963-1969 158 160 158 0 160 0 2 0 2nd Parliament 1969-1974 158 169 157 1 167 2 10 1 3rd Parliament 1974-1979 158 174 154 4 168 6 14 2 4th Parliament 1979-1983 158 170 154 4 165 5 11 1 5th Parliament 1983-1988 158 168 156 2 165 3 9 1 6th Parliament 1988-1992 188 198 186 2 196 2 10 0 7th Parliament 1992-1997 188 201 182 6 194 7 12 1 8th Parliament 1997-2002 210 224 206 4 215 9 9 5 9th Parliament 2002-2007 210 222 200 10 204 18 4 8 10th Parliament 2008-2012 210 222 194 16 200 22 6 6 11th Parliament 2013-2017 290 302 274 16 281 21 7 5 TOTAL 2,210 2,021 112 2,115 142 94 30 GETTING IT RIGHT : WOMEN REPRESENTATION, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND THE 2/3 GENDER PRINCIPLE IN KENYA 3 Alice Wahome Esther Muthoni Nyambura Kandara Gathogo Joyce Laboso KENYA’S Ruiru Cherono ELECTED FEMALE MPs Sotik IN THE 11TH Esther Murugi PARLIAMENT Mathenge NYERI Town Cecily Regina Muia Mutitu Nthambi Mbarire Kilome RUNYENJES Mary Wambui Munene Millie Grace Othaya Odhiambo Alice Wambui Rachel Kaki MBita Ng’ang’a Nyamai Thika Town KITUI South Hellen Sambili Mary Otuch Jepkemoi Emaase Mogotio Teso SOUTH Naomi Namsi Shabani Peris Pesi Taveta Tobiko Grace Jelagat KAJIADO EAST Kipchoim Baringo South Jessica Mbalu Nduku Kiko KIBWEZI EAST 4 GETTING IT RIGHT : WOMEN REPRESENTATION, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND THE 2/3 GENDER PRINCIPLE IN KENYA In total, 142 women (elected and nomi- 142 nated) against 2,115 men have served in women the Kenya’s 1st – 11th parliaments. WOMEN REPRESENTATION AT COUNTY LEVEL None of the 47 Governors in the 47 country are women Only 9 of the 47 deputy governors in the country are women 9 FEMALE DEPUTY GOVERNORS OF KENYA NO. NAME COUNTY 1. Adelina Ndeto Mwau Makueni 2. Dorothy Nditi Muchungu Embu 3. Evaline Aruasa Chepkirui Narok 4. Fatuma Mohammed Achani Kwale 5. Hazel Katana Nyamoki Mombasa 6. Mary Ndiga Kibuka Taita Taveta 7. Peninah Malonza Kitui 8. Ruth Adhiambo Odinga Kisumu 9. Susan Chepkoech Kikwai Kericho GETTING IT RIGHT : WOMEN REPRESENTATION, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND THE 2/3 GENDER PRINCIPLE IN KENYA 5 AFFIRMATIVE ACTION WHAT IS AFFIRMATIVE ACTION? • Affirmative action is a deliberate move to reforming or eliminating past and present discrimination using a set of public policies and/or initiatives designed to help on the basis of gender, race, colour, ethnicity, creed, geographical location, etc. • The Constitution of Kenya 2010 (CoK) recognizes women, youth, persons with disabilities and ethnic minorities as special groups deserving of constitutional protection. • The CoK espouses the rights of women as being equal in law to men, and entitled to enjoy equal opportunities in the political, social and economic spheres. • The constitutional not more than two-thirds gender principle is a form of affirmative action that is aimed at allowing women to take up at least 1/3rd of all appointive or elective leadership opportunities. MYTHS & FACTS: MYTH FACT • Affirmative action is about one gender (mainly women) • In Kenya, the groups considered to be marginalized are women, youth, persons with disability, and other groups of minorities such including people from arid areas, or from tiny ethnic groups among others. • Either gender can be disadvantaged, but in Africa it is largely women. • The not more than two-thirds gender principle is a call for • The not more than two thirds gender principle is a consti- favors that involve women being allocated ‘free seats’. tutional provision whose objective is to give both men and women the full effect of realizing the rights guaranteed by the bill of rights in the Constitution. • The not more than two-thirds principle cannot be effected; • Proper constitutionalism requires full and meaningful it is too costly on the taxpayer. implementation of the Constitution’s two-thirds requirement regardless of the associated costs. • According to the Institute of Economic Affairs and the National Women Steering Committee, the cost translates to Ksh.50 per Kenyan per year. 6 GETTING IT RIGHT : WOMEN REPRESENTATION, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND THE 2/3 GENDER PRINCIPLE IN KENYA THE TWO-THIRDS GENDER PRINCIPLE • The Constitution of Kenya in Article 27 (6) of the Bill of Rights provides that the state must develop legislations and measures to implement the principle of not more than two-thirds. • This provision not only ensures that there is equal representation in both elective and appointive positions, but also recognizes and addresses the past injustices to access to political leadership. • The current gender compositions of the National Assembly and Senate fall short of the two-thirds requirement. The National Assembly has only 19.5% women while the gender composition in the Senate, to which no woman was elected in 2013, is closer to the minimum one-third threshold, but still short at 26.9% women. KENYA CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS ON GENDER EQUALITY • Article 10 (2), the National Values and Principles of Governance include (b) Human dignity, equity, social justice, inclusiveness, equality, human rights, non- discrimination and protection of the marginalized. • Article 27 (4) provides that the state shall not discriminate anyone on the basis of sex, race, pregnancy, marital status, health status, ethnic or social origin, colour, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, dress, language or birth. • Article 27 (8) obligates the state to take legislative and other measures to implement the principle that not more than 2/3rds of the members of an appointive or elective position shall be of the same gender. • Article 81 (b) provides that the electoral system in Kenya shall ensure that persons of the same gender occupy no more than two thirds of elective positions. • Article 100 provides that Parliament shall enact legislation to promote the representation in Parliament of ; (a) women; (b) persons with disabilities; (c) youth; (d) ethnic and other minorities; and (e) marginalised communities. • Article 177 (1) provides that A county assembly consists of - (b) the number of special seat members necessary to ensure that no more than two-thirds of the membership of the assembly are of the same gender. (c)The number of marginalized groups including persons with disabilities and youth prescribed by an Act of Parliament. SUPREME COURT ADVISORY OPINION • In 2012, the Attorney General sought an advisory opinion from the Supreme Court’s on effecting the not more than two-thirds gender requirement in The National Assembly and Senate. On 11th December 2012, the Supreme Court of Kenya held that gender equity as an affirmative action right for women, under Article 82 (b), is progressive in nature and not an immediate realization. The court gave parliament upto 27 August 2015 to come up with legislation on how the one-third-gender rule will be met in the 2017 general election. • The AG subsequently set up a technical working group to receive proposals from Kenyans. The group comprises the National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC), the Attorney General’s Office, Ministry of Devolution and Planning, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, Office of the Registrar of Political Parties, Commission on the Implementation of the Constitution, Commission on Administrative Justice, Parliament, Kenya Women’s Parliamentary Association and the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA-Kenya). GETTING IT RIGHT : WOMEN REPRESENTATION, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND THE 2/3 GENDER PRINCIPLE IN KENYA 7 Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK) Muringa Court, Block D Hse No 14 Kirichwa - Muringa Road Junction Kilimani P.O Box 10327 - 00100 Nairobi Kenya Office Tel: +254 722/737 201958 Email: [email protected]; URL: www.amwik.org Twitter:@AMWIK Facebook: Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK).