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Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jnr and his nominated counterpart Farhiya Ali have revived the push to have more women in Parliament through the implementation of the two-thirds gender rule.

The bill seeks to have the number of women legislators in both the National Assembly and the Senate increased after the 2022 election, if Senate approves the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2019.

It pushes for the nomination of wowen to the Parliament to bridge the gender gap and ensure that at least a third of the MPs in the next House are of the female gender.

In particular, it amends Articles 97 and 98 of the Constitution to alter the membership of Parliament and ensure no more than two-thirds of the membership of either Houses is of the same gender.

 “The bill seeks to amend the Constitution to give effect to the two-thirds gender principle through the creation of special seats that will ensure the gender principle is realised in Parliament,” it reads in part.

Past attempts

If approved and assented to by the President, the law will take effect after the 2022 election.

This latest move, however, risks a bloated Parliament because the number of MPs to be nominated would be determined after the results of the General Election.

Unlike in the past attempts, the amendments will give parties an authority to nominate members to the Houses until they achieve the controversial two-thirds gender rule.

“The number of special seats be determined after the declaration of results of a General Election,” it continues. “The seats shall be allocated to political parties in proportion to the total number of seats won by candidates of the political party at the election.”

The ‘top-up’ will be limited to special interests groups—women, youth and people with disabilities. It also means male politicians will be locked out of the limited nomination slots. 

The Parliament has 416 members—349 in the National Assembly and 67 in the Senate. The National Assembly has 20 nominated members and Senate 12.