Kenya's new law faces its first change
Kenya’s one-year-old Constitution is set for its first change after President Kibaki's Cabinet resolved on Thursday that one of its key tenets was technically impossible to achieve.
The Constitution stipulates that at least one third of elected Members of Parliament be of either gender. The electoral commission has been struggling with ways to structure rules so as to conform to the law. (READ: Elect 72 women MPs or forget Parliament)
The Cabinet meeting, unusually sitting for the second time in a week, was chaired by President Kibaki.
A dispatch from the Presidential Press Service (PPS) following the meeting said: "With regard to the requirement for one third representation in Parliament by either gender, Cabinet decided to set up a task force to prepare a Constitution amendment bill to deal with this important requirement that is technically impossible to achieve under the current stipulation."
Section 81 (b) of the Constitution provides that not more than two-thirds of the members of elective public bodies shall be of the same gender.
The Cabinet is currently in a rush to approve Bills with Constitutional deadlines by August 27 and sources have told Nation.co.ke that its meetings will continue into Saturday.
The Bills then go to parliament for debate, and if the pass, for presidential assent into law.
Ministers approved the Elections Bill at the Thursday sitting.
