Our constitution fully provides for gender diversity

Kibe Mungai

The Constitution provides that Parliament is the supreme law-making body in Kenya and is the only body vested with power to make provision having the force of law. Parliament’s legislative authority is derived from the people and so Article 94(4) commands Parliament to protect the Constitution and “promote the democratic governance of the Republic. Specifically, Article 1 of the Constitution recognises that sovereign power belongs to the people of Kenya and it delegates their law-making power to Parliament and the legislative assemblies in the county assemblies.

In order to realise the reality that Kenya shall be a multi-party democracy, the Constitution has established Parliament which shall consist of the National Assembly and the Senate. It is important to underscore that the Constitution has created 53 special member seats for women in the National Assembly and 18 in the Senate. This is because even as the Constitution acknowledges Kenya is a democratic Republic, Article 94(2) provides that Parliament should manifest “the diversity of the nation, represent the will of the people, and exercise their sovereignty.” I have chosen to restate these first principles of our Constitution because since 2010, important stakeholders seem to have forgotten them.