Parties still ignoring minorities, disabled

The storm over the proposed nominees to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) has revealed that Kenya’s political parties still do not fully appreciate the spirit of the Constitution that we promulgated in 2010, especially with regards to representation.

The Constitution, which all parties have stated is sacrosanct and ought to guide on how they run their affairs including nominations, clearly states that affirmative action should be taken to give a voice to real minorities, marginalised groups and people with disabilities.

Provisions under the Bill of Rights are explicit on representation for these three groups by stating that affirmative action programmes designed to ensure that minorities and marginalised groups participate and are represented in governance and other spheres of life should be put in place.

MARGINALISED GROUPS
Articles 27(4), 52, 54 and 56 Under the Bill of Rights states that the State shall ensure the progressive implementation of the principle that at least five per cent of the members of the public in elective and appointive bodies are persons with disabilities.

Looking at the names that were proposed for nomination at the EALA, it is clear that political parties are oblivious on what the Constitution was trying to do by demanding that the rights of marginalised groups and the disabled be represented at bodies such as EALA.

Or have they intentionally ignored the Constitution?

Parties have not come out and overtly stated that they have set aside seats, at any level of government, for these three groups.

INCLUSIVENESS
I will not speculate on why none of the parties that have been allocated seats in the regional assembly did not set aside at least one seat for any of these groups, but the lack of diversity is a sign that political parties still have a long way to go at being truly national.

The EALA nominations was a golden chance for parties to show that they have fully embraced the Constitution that encourages inclusiveness and diversity.

This was an opportunity to show the region and the world that Kenyan politics has come of age by being all inclusive but some of the names that were nominated have only fanned the flames of nepotism and cronyism.

For parties to be truly national they must represent all the nations of Kenya and its special groups which include persons with disabilities.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

Kenya has real minorities, which I define as ethnic communities whose numbers are so small that to get representation at even the county levels is in many cases impossible.

For these ethnic communities affirmative action is the only recourse for them getting any form of political representation and in its absence such communities will never have a voice in Kenya’s political discourse.

It is only political parties that can prevent this injustice by deliberately setting aside seats for these Kenyans.

I call it an injustice as the absence of representatives from these groups amounts to taxation without representation, which is the classical definition of tyranny.

FAIRNESS
For Kenya to fully forge all her people and create one nation we must first start by setting aside a chair for minorities, marginalised groups and people with disabilities at the national dining table.

This can be done by reserving seats at EALA, the Senate, National Assembly and respective county assemblies.

It is still not too late for political parties to go back to the drawing board and propose nominees that truly reflect the face of Kenya.

Kenyan political parties from both sides of the divide have a moral obligation to do the just thing and nominate legislators from minorities, marginalised groups by defining who they are and how including from people with disabilities.

This is a challenge for them to do the right thing.

Mr Halake, a former PS, is a former chairman for the National Council for Persons with Disabilities.