Female members of Nairobi County assembly have voiced concern that they are being sidelined

By JAMES MWANGI

NAIROBI, Kenya: Female members of Nairobi County assembly have voiced concern that they are being sidelined in the composition of the Ward Development Fund Select Committee.

The house on Wednesday endorsed 11 members to the powerful committee that will supervise the Ward Development kitty but only one female representative, South C rep Diana Kapeen, was slotted in.

Out of the 85 wards in Nairobi County, women were elected only in four wards women but the assembly has more than 39 female nominated representatives. The county has 127 MCAs.

On the floor of the house, the female representatives sanctioned the list albeit grudgingly, faulting their male colleagues of marginalising them but the members have insisted the committee should be composed of only the elected members.

“The committee will only have the elected MCAs. If at all we will add female reps, they must come from the four elected ones,” Majority Chief Whip David Mberia said.

The Minority leader Abdi Hassan and his Majority counterpart Elias Otieno have said the section 35 of the fund Act will be amended to increase the number by four and have some women reps on board.