Kenya@50: The Kenyan woman should stop being a flower girl in politics

Parliament of Kenya

Nairobi;kenya:  A tribute to all women who have fought on and on after Wangari Marthai..........

As I write this article, I know many an average woman would not be able to read it, some are too preoccupied with social media dates to notice this. This piece will not find itself in some big prize giving ceremonies,being a drop in the ocean from a nondescript, the  poor that is me. But still I know it will reach one soul out there.

My grandma tells me that by Independence time the cost for a man to pay for an revere marriage was kshs 2.28 cents. Though there were several herds of cows,sheep and goats to accompany the money, the mature cow then was 1.15cents and a ram was like 28 cents!

Today an average marriage would cost  a man up to and around five(5) million shillings.That's quite a big leap! but looking at the role of women in our elective politics since Independence, the picture is very grim and shows that while  the price of getting married to a Kenyan lady has considerably gone up, her  role in the politics of  Kenya has more of remained at kshs.2.28 cents since  the Independence period. Stagnant!

In national politics, in spite of the gains made possible by the 2010 constitution, their number has remained dismal. Those who made it to parliament are more of flower girls cheering on the likes of Duale and Junnet  to pass laws that equally infringe their rights or simlpy put they didnt bother to attend parliament during the marraige bill debate; only a paltry 9 were in the chambers some of the whom walked out. It  was a pitiable sight to watch.

According to a report released late in 2013 by  a lobby group of women lawyers Titled: Key Gains and challenges; A Gender  audit of Kenya'2013 Election Process.

  • 16 women were  elected to the national parliament
  • 5 in the national assembly were nominated
  • 47 were elected as women reps for the 47 counties( they had to be since all the contenders were only women)
  • 18 nominated in the senate( get this: absolutely no woman was elected as a senator or governor in Kenya in 2013)

Despite being far much better than before, the turnover of men in parliament has been into hundreds if not thousands since independence.

The above statistics is an illegality that even contravenes the 2010 constitution that set a third of the posts to be held by women. Look who is the president and deputy president and our women are cheering them on as great! The number of women elected and nominated in the two houses represents:
Parliament: 19% this is 14.3% less than the minimum constitutional  requirement .Senate: 6.8%- a whooping 33.2 less than the minimum constitutional requirement.

Compared to other East African countries, Kenya is doing badly in empowering women in politics or let's say our women are doing badly in empowering their fellows since they hold the bulk of the electorate, but would troop to elect men then cry later of bad leadership.

While the political landscape in Kenya is dangerously anti women and too lopsided in favor of the male political animal, the few women who have been given a chance to lead have either been compromised by the juju politics of their male counterparts or just got their head confused the moment they pass through the door to parliament through to cabinet.

Women politicians in Kenyan have had to make through both dirty propaganda ranging from the anatomy of the body parts, to their marriages as some  go through harrowing experience of being physically abused by goons hired by the their male opponents. If there is  a species that need to be protected by our laws when nullifying elections like what we heard the courts in Kisumu doing with Oduol; that he failed because his opponent used propaganda, it should have not been Oduol but  our women politicians who lost due to propaganda.
Women their own enemy
But perhaps the biggest road block that stands on the way for a fully liberated women in Kenya are the women themselves.From the times of Grace Ogot, Phoebe Asiyo, Margaret Ogolla, Oludhe Macgoye, Micere Mugo and their contemporaries, with the dat of the giant Wangari mathai,a few lone voices have come a long: Milly Odhiambo,Martha Karua before she became an establishment apologist,(during Kibaki regime) then Agness Ndetei lost it all by allowing herself to fight a fellow woman, Beth Mugo was like purely in parlimanent  to oppose any thing from Raila, Now I dont even hear of her,as for charity Ngilu, I still don't know what she really stands for. One time she champions the course of women, the next she is somewhere in between. May be someone can tell me what ails mama Rainbow in politics. The Nairobi women rep  Rachel shebesh was a force to reckon with but the moment she split with the likes of Milly, she started doing some weird things rumored to be bordering some funny dances which result into slaps, if she is going to come back , its  hard to tell, but she is the kind of a lady who if only she stopped listening too much to Adan Duale, can perform very well.

Then there is or do we say there was?  the infamous Maendeleo ya Wanawake 'wachache' near KANU. Let no one lie to you,Zippora Kitony's group was the women wing of KANU;it had no agenda for the common woman in kyanzivu in Kilungu makueni or Onyalobiro in Nyando. Then Rukia took over, still  most disrespected woman from the North and much of the coast has not benefited a thing. The other day i saw them shouting haki yetu thing of the dead madeleo ya wanawake.

Save for Milly and that ODM women rep from Homa bay, the other women in parliament have been just like they don't know why they are there or escorting the bad guys to pass bad laws. Come out of parliament, Rachel Omamo seems to have taken over as the KDF spokesperson. You will only know of her when trying to defend the KDF over Westage

Away from politics and some men still use women like door mat. You got to stand and defend your woman; girl friend, wife, fiancé, your sinister, your mother, your female work mate, your female employee. Then and only then would someone else respect her! But still some women make themselves be abused by men the way they handle themselves. A woman of substance knows when to say NO for an abusing partner and a bully and stops the kalaongolongo games in bars. that is where this marriage bill ought to have gotten the women parliamnetarians to strip naked not  simply because a ploitician has paid you but for your fellow woman!

 By the way it doesn't cost much to respect a woman and make her feel she is special in  a special way. indeed she is, for we all peed on them as toddlers( my late mum)

This is a special tribute to all the women out there: to the female  CEOs out there, to the female head teachers and principals in our high schools, to the many faceless mothers still eking  a living  to educate their children instead of the absentee husbands,female doctors, drivers, nurses and those I may not have mentioned this is for you:  to the woman who is facing the demon of dictorial tendencies creeping back through the  marriage bill. STAND FIRM!