Home » Media Centre » Blogs » Katiba Watch: Gender and the Parliamentary Oversight Committee - Where are the Women?
By Mzalendo Contributor - Moreen Majiwa
You voted for the new constitution, and though that may seem like the hard part – it took twenty years - that was the easy part. The implementation i.e. the hard part begins now. Chapter 4 of the constitution on the bill of rights is the only part that comes into play immediately with very little need for implementing legislation.
To come into force the remaining 17 chapters of the constitution require a barrage of implementing legislation to be enacted in a period between one and five years. The Parliamentary Oversight Committee on the Implementation of the New Constitution,
the length of the name perhaps signifying the magnitude of the task at hand, is the body charged with ensuring the implementation of the new constitution. As our parliamentarians jockey for seats the Committee. It is incumbent upon us as citizens to ensure that the process is followed to the letter.
Following the nomination of 27 candidates to the Committee MP for Gem, Jakoyo Midiwo’s, proclamation in the Nation of 30th September 2010 that "We
[parliamentarians] tried to follow the law in coming up with the names as much as we could" is not enough. The statement is possibly a pointer to the fact that both parties ODM and PNU have failed to adhere to the principles of gender equity and
gender equality enshrined in the constitution.
Out of a total 27 nominees only 7 are women. The law requires that at least 1/3 of the seats be allocated to women. It is difficult to understand why in a situation in which there are enough women to make up 1/3 of 27 nominees and still have some left over, our parliamentarians who are well aware of the requirements the constitution, and should be the first to
uphold its provisions would like to begin the implementation process by breaching the letter and spirit of the document.
One can only attribute their actions to the pressure to maintain status quo and resist change, and it is a slap in the face of women coming so recently after the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association meeting where the President pledged to boost the participation of women in politics. Perhaps, it will take more to internalise the provisions of the constitution.
However every citizen of Kenya has an obligation to protect and uphold the constitution, so it behooves us the citizen to come out every time that anybody whether in authority or outside authority attempts to contravene the supremacy of the constitution and the sovereignty of the people of Kenya. It is up to us to come
out and defend our new constitution.
So as Parliament resumes debate tomorrow, lets ensure that names that on the final list of nominees to committee contains the right number and composition of men and women and that the choice of these persons reflects the spirit and letter of the constitution.
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