Open defiance, sabotage killed gender rule dream

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi. (Photo: Moses Omusula, Standard)

When Justice John Mativo slapped MPs with a 60-day ultimatum to either pass laws to implement the two-thirds gender rule or go home, women celebrated.

However, MPs and parliamentary staff familiar with the arithmetic around the mechanics of such a legislation saw a legislative nightmare. The urgency on the matter was emphasised when President Uhuru Kenyatta, while mourning his elder sister, Margaret, asked the two Houses of Parliament to expedite the legislation.