Gender rule overdue

The two-thirds gender rule failed to be adopted by the National Assembly in last week's voting because Members of Parliament could not raise the 233 votes required to pass the Bill after only 199 legislators voted in favour of it while 28 were opposed to it.

This compelled National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi to intervene and call for a fresh a vote tomorrow. August 27, 2015 was the date set in the 2010 Constitution for the actualisation of the gender rule. Yet MPs, it seems lack the urgency to deal with the matter.

Even though women legislators have lobbied for the passage of the Bill, male Members of Parliament have shown obvious reluctance for reasons yet to be ascertained. Women should not, however, lay too much stock in the Bill becoming a reality tomorrow. Elective positions in Kenya are open to everyone and they should challenge men instead of waiting to be given special seats. Women have proven themselves to be good leaders (perhaps even better) in many fields, especially where they earned their positions through merit.

These fields include academia and the private sector where women sit in C-suites of several blue chip companies. Nevertheless, this is not to say that the Bill should not be given the attention it deserves.