Equality body nominees say gay debate distractive

By Wilfred Ayaga

Nairobi, Kenya: President Uhuru Kenyatta’s nominees to the National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) were taken to task over gay and lesbian rights.

Florence Nyokabi Wachira and Abdullahi Alawy were forced to negotiate the gay landmine by a parliamentary committee yesterday, which grilled them for over three hours on their positions regarding the divisive issue. Nyokabi, who was the first to be grilled by the committee on Labour and Social Welfare, said the practice was ‘unnatural and non-indigenous.’

“Our cultures did not incorporate the practice. This puts our society in a very difficult position,” Nyokabi told the committee chaired by Matungu MP David Were.

She claimed that the gay debate was deviating the country’s attention from more pressing national matters. The NGEC is mandated to ensure reduction in inequalities and discrimination in all sectors of the society.

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Nyokabi, who is serving as the Director of Recruitment and Selection at the Public Service Commission, told the committee that she would work with Parliament on issues dealing with gays and lesbians.

“We won’t like to end up with a practice borrowed from somewhere and make it to appear like it is happening countrywide,” she said.

Alawy also said he would be guided by the Constitution in reaching decisions touching on gays and lesbians.

“The gays and lesbians, however, never went around advertising their sexual orientation,” Alawy told the members. He was later put to task over his dual citizenship.