By Lillian Aluanga-Delvaux

Kenya: The past week has seen the jostling for positions in parliamentary committees intensify, amid calls for inclusion of more members into the House teams.

But even as legislators make their case to change the Standing Orders, which if effected would allow a higher number of the 349 MPs serve in departmental committees, another headache awaits the newly elected House — that of women’s representation in the teams, where essentially most of Parliament’s business will be conducted.

Although their numbers have increased, women still constitute less than half the total number of legislators in Parliament. Last month’s election saw 16 women elected as MPs, while another 47 made it to the House on account of affirmative action seats as County Women Representatives.

At least four others were nominated by political parties to occupy the 12 nomination slots shared out based on party strength in the House. This brings the number of women in the National Assembly to 67, far below 117, a figure that would have achieved the minimum one-third representation provided by the Constitution.

Mbarire’s take

While the committees established so far demonstrate a general willingness to accommodate more women, the numbers still fall short of the ideal one-third minimum. 

In a December 2012 ruling, the Supreme Court said the two thirds gender requirement could not be met in the March 2013 elections, but should be achieved by 2015. This essentially meant Parliament was let off the hook with regards to ensuring that one third of all members in the House were women.

But beyond the one third threshold, there have also been murmurs of discontent on the type of committees women are appointed to, with Runyenjes MP Cecily Mbarire pointing out that female legislators were relegated to ‘junior committees’ while ‘their male counterparts connived in the corridors of Parliament to deny them opportunities’.

Women insufficiency

“Although the one third threshold is realisable, it would essentially make the work of the MPs more difficult,” says Rarieda MP Nicholas Gumbo.

“At the moment, the number of women MPs is about 20 per cent of the total number in the House. If we try to stretch this number to be accommodated across all committees, then it means one MP would have to sit in several committees. The effect of this is that some legislators will only be able to make technical appearances in some of the sessions since they will have a lot on their hands,” he says.

Gumbo says while it is desirable to have one third of women in all committees, members must realise that the bulk of parliamentary work will be transacted within the committees, hence the need for greater focus and concentration.

25 house teams

“We had problems in the last Parliament where the work of some committees stalled. Members that appeared in several committees were sometimes unable to consistently attend sessions, thereby compromising their ability to make substantive contributions,” he says.

There are currently about 25 parliamentary teams that constitute the Housekeeping, Standing and Departmental Committees. The House Business, Procedure and House Rules, Liaison and Selection committee make up what are referred to as the House keeping committees.

Then there are the Appointments, Public Accounts, Public Investments, Budget and Appropriations, Delegated Legislation, Regional Integration, and Implementation committees that are categorised as Standing Committees.

Committees set up

Departmental Committees on the other hand consist of members nominated by the House Business Committee, in consultation with political parties represented in the House. They include those on Administration and National Security as well as Environment and Natural Resources.

Others are Agriculture, Livestock and Cooperatives, Defence and Foreign Relations, Education, Research and Technology, Health and Lands committees.

Committees that have so far been set up include the House Business Committee, Selection Committee and Appointments Committees. Of the 32 members in the House Business Committee that schedules the order of business in the House, nine are women. They include Dr Naomi Shaaban (Taveta), Cecilia Ngetich (Bomet), Rachael Shebesh (Nairobi), Rachael Nyamai (Kitui), Dennitah Ghati (Migori) and Gladys Nyasuna (Homa Bay).

At least seven of the 21 members in the Procedure and House Rules Committee are women. They include Deputy Speaker Dr Joyce Laboso (Sotik), Rachael Shebesh (Nairobi), Hellen Sambili (Mogotio), Amina Abdalla (nominated), and Florence Mutua (Busia).

‘Small number’

The Committee on Appointments has 28 members out of which seven are women. They include Deputy Speaker Laboso, Shabaan, who is also the deputy leader of the Majority party, Abdalla, Mbarire and Roselinda Soipan (Narok). The Committee on Selection, that nominates members to serve in House committees, has five women out of its 20 members. They include Mary Emase (Teso), Joyce Lay (Taita Taveta), Ghati (Migori), Rachael Amollo (Kakamega) and Alice Ng’anga (Thika).

“The number of women on the committees appears small but this arises from the fact that not many made it to Parliament,” says Haki Focus executive director Harun Ndubi.

Gender rule

Ndubi attributes this to the advisory judgment made by the Courts on the two-thirds gender rule, and says political parties should have allocated the 12 nomination slots to women.

Ndubi argues that given that women MPs may have to sit on several committees because of their small numbers in the House, they may encounter challenges in dedicating enough time to the constituencies they represent.

“We know the work of these committees also involves a lot of travel. Consider a situation where one member is on three of four committees and is forced to spend a substantial amount of time traveling,” he says.

Women’s Political Alliance chair Daisy Amdany says women MPs must ‘work smart’ and use the positions they already have in the committees.

Crucial committees

“We know that certain committees in the House are crucial, and the Kenya Women Parliamentary Association must, therefore, insist that at least one third of the membership in such committees be women,” she says.

“At the very least, each committee will have women MPs and its, therefore, critical for the women to have a collective voice,” she adds.

She says its unfortunate to hear some of the women legislators argue that ‘they can do without the one third representation on the committees, forgetting that they are beneficiaries of the collective push by the Women’s Movement for greater women’s representation.

Proper formula

Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA) Country director Felix Odhiambo says Parliament should make every reasonable step to ensure women are represented in critical House committees.

“To some extent, the Supreme Court’s ruling accepted that both Parliament and the Senate would fall short of the two thirds requirement in the first election under a new Constitution. This insulated Parliament from strict observance of the rule, which then cascades to the committees level. Until a proper formula through which this can be done is found, then Parliament is still within the time frame given, of 2015, to ensure that one third of its membership to the House and committees are women,” he says.

Technical capacity

While calling for the number of MPs in committees to be reduced, Ndubi also points to the one-third threshold for women’s representation and says there is need for Parliament and other appointive bodies to appreciate that it is the minimum and not maximum number set by the Constitution

 “There is no reason why committees should have more than nine members. I believe higher numbers make it difficult to achieve qualitative representation. We should perhaps consider increasing Parliament’s technical capacity, that would then advise committees and let the committees handle the political aspects,” he says.