Propose a formula on gender rule instead of attacking me, Muturi says

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi has said his controversial proposal on how to meet the two-thirds gender rule had been taken out of context.

Mr Muturi said critics were claiming he was undermining women empowerment while he only proposed a formula on how to meet the rule.

"The way the information was relayed on what I proposed while in South Africa is not the way it was relayed here (Kenya). I do not want women to go home, instead I want more of them," he said.

The Speaker came under fire for proposing that the position of the woman representative and nominated MPs be scrapped and replaced with with 100 special positions to be created by the Independent Electoral and Boundary Commission(IEBC).

Muturi said instead of lambasting him, critics of his formula should come up with their own proposals on how to address the issue of women representation in decision making organs like Parliament.

"The issue is not if it should be done but how it should done. We must implement what Kenyans passed in the Constitution," he said.

Article 27 (8) of the Constitution provides for affirmative action where the State is required to take legislative measures to ensure not more than two thirds of the members of the elective or appointive bodies are of the same gender.

Muturi, who was spoke in Nakuru when he addressed the Murang'a County Secondary Heads Association, said Kenyans should learn to accommodate divergent views. "We have a robust Bill of Rights that allows people to express themselves and if you don't agree with my opinion, do it respectively," he said.

Some women groups have demanded for an apology from the Speaker.