Mbita MP Millie Odhiambo raises alarm over plot to kill gender rule

Mbita MP Millie Odhiambo

NAIROBI, KENYA: Mbita MP Millie Odhiambo has accused a section of Parliament of scheming to sabotage the implementation of the two-thirds gender rule.

The MP said despite ongoing affirmative action measures, there was a scheme to scuttle realisation of equity provisions espoused in the Constitution.

She claimed legislation was in the offing in the Eleventh Parliament to kill the gender rule before the August deadline set by the Supreme Court.

The highest court gave MPs up to August 27, 2015 to come up with legislation on how the two-thirds gender rule will be achieved in the 2017 General Election.

“The two-thirds rule is clearly under threat. There are those who now insist it can only be implemented incrementally. A Bill is on the way to the floor of the House to ensure progressive realisation of this important principle,” Millie said.

She said the deadline set by court is fast approaching but MPs were yet to provide the way forward on the implementation of the gender requirement in the National Assembly and Senate.

“The Executive and Legislator must do more on affirmative action. We don’t need actions that only serve to swallow gains we have made in the new Constitution, which recognises women, youth, persons with disabilities and ethnic minorities as special groups deserving of protection,” she said.

The outspoken ODM MP spoke in Nairobi at the weekend during the launch of a book "Rising beyond the tide", authored by Ms Nelly Opiyo, which focuses on girls empowerment and women in leadership.

In the title, Opiyo, now a UN employee who was present in Haiti during the 2010 catastrophic earthquake in the Caribbean country, uses her own example to showcase how girls can defy life challenges.

“It doesn’t matter your surrounding and the circumstances,” Millie said, adding they would, from July, tour schools in Nyanza with a plan to launch a mentorship programme targeting school girls.