Use the law to meet 'two-thirds' gender rule

In his article on the two thirds gender rule, John Ngirachu stated that political parties should be used to attain the 'two-thirds' gender principle.

He cited the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) research that revealed that it is not expensive as has been proposed and further added that in his experience as a parliamentary reporter, there has not been much value from numbers in the August House.

What Mr Ngirachu was advocating is critical to interrogating further the constitutional principle which must be effected.

Women activists have stated that it is not a favour they are calling for but the fulfilment of the Constitution, which also has a timeline. Ensuring that the two thirds gender principle is realised within the 290 constituencies and 47 counties should be the main focus.

The IEA study had revealed that if 70 women were elected in all constituencies and 5 in the Senate in all counties, there would be no need to nominate any.

It further found that if 58 women were elected to the National Assembly and 12 special nomination seats were occupied by women then the threshold would be attained as well. The question then is be how to make this possible.

ALMOST EQUAL CHANCES

Political parties are certainly the best vehicles to ensure this is realised. They are largely as patriarchal as Kenya in general but being the bedrock of political culture and government, they need to show leadership.

This can be done through laws that compel them to take measures towards the gender threshold.

First, each party should be compelled to include women in the nomination process. When women are supported in this manner, they have as good a chance of being elected as men.

Some studies have shown that men and women have an almost equal chance of being elected once in the ballot; 14 per cent and 12 per cent respectively, going by the 2013 General Elections.

Thus a nomination process for whatever seat, be it Ward Representative, Senator, Member of Parliament, President, Member of County Assembly and Governor that lacks women would automatically be cancelled and a new one called. Perhaps an exception could be made for the seat of President.

This way, more women would be encouraged to join political parties, especially the leading ones in certain areas, also known are strongholds which guarantee their elections at the ballot.

LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD

Second, there needs to be a maximum campaign financing limit in the nomination process. The IEBC has done well to propose limits for the seats during the elections and hopefully Parliament supports them. This limit needs to be extended to political party nomination exercises.

Many women who would be interested in politics shy away because of the inability to raise enough money to marshal credible campaign machinery. Levelling the playing field makes the process more equal and this would spur interest in many.

Three, political violence must be shunned and criminalised in political parties. Tough measures that do not just target the candidates themselves but their agents as well should be legislated, and all political parties should be be compelled to ensure each politician registers his or her agents.

These agents would be as culpable as their candidate. When an agent is punished for fraud, the same punishment should be meted to the candidate, including being disbarred from the political party and blocked from running in that political party.

Where necessary, evidence should be provided to the Director of Public Prosecutions for them to be charged accordingly. This would instil discipline in all involved in political party processes.

CURBING VICES

Finally, political parties must be compelled to have at least half of their members as women. Before a political party is registered, it would need to have members from at least half of the counties in the country.

Hopefully, the comprising women would voluntarily join and not be listed from MPesa shops and other clandestine means.

These mechanisms within political parties would not only curb vices that negatively affect political parties, but ensure more women participate in their processes, and thus contribute better to attaining the two thirds threshold.

Increasing the membership of women further would then be pegged on matters like ideology, performance and general feeling by them on the value they get from the party.

If a political culture that is gender sensitive were inculcated, society would benefit in the long run. This would ensure quality participation from women since it would be clear that their performance is what would promote their candidature at the political party nominations and later in the elections.

The writer is a political blogger. Twitter @oleshitemi