Factcheck: No, Kirinyaga Woman Rep Wangui Ngirici did not meet Ida Odinga today

A now-viral picture suggesting Kirinyaga Woman Rep Wangui Ngirici (in red) met Ida Odinga (in white) on Wednesday, December 29, 2021. [File, Standard]

A picture circulating on social media suggesting that Kirinyaga Woman Representative Wangui Ngirici met ODM leader Raila Odinga’s wife, Ida, on Wednesday, December 29, is an old photograph.

The Standard has established that the picture was taken on November 28, 2018, when Ngirici, the then-chairperson of the Kenya Women Parliamentary Association (KEWOPA), paid Ida a visit at her Nairobi home, seeking her support for the Gender Bill, formally known as the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill 2018.

In the picture, Ngirici is seen seated next to Ida Odinga and Kisumu Woman Representative Rozaah Buyu on the front row, as Vihiga Woman Representative Beatrice Adagala, her Nyeri counterpart Priscilla Nyokabi, Rangwe MP Lilian Gogo, Njoro MP Charity Kathambi and Kabondo Kasipul MP Eve Obara pose behind the trio.

On February 27, 2019 the National Assembly, for the fourth time, refused to enact the Gender Bill, which seeks to legislate on the constitutional requirement that neither gender should have more than two-thirds in elective positions.

The National Assembly did so by denying the Bill the requisite quorum for a constitutional amendment, which requires two-thirds of the members of the House to be present. So, the MPs didn’t just fail to pass the Bill, but they refused to show up to allow for the possibility of its enactment.

Only 174 members were present in the House. That marked the fourth time the Bill was deferred in Parliament since promulgation of the 2010 Constitution.

The Constitution of Kenya 2010 in Article 27(8) of the Bill of Rights provides that: “The State shall take legislative and other measures to implement the principle that not more than two thirds of the members of elective or appointive bodies shall be of the same gender.”

This provision is also reiterated in Article 81(b) on the principles of the electoral system and is commonly referred to as “the gender principle”.

Since the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution, Kenya has been struggling to realise the provisions on gender equity.

(Additional reporting by Ndungu Gachane)