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Female parliamentarians have vowed to adopt a bipartisan approach in their renewed effort to secure the two-thirds gender requirement in the House.

The resolution was reached during a meeting convened by Kenya Women Parliamentary Association (KEWOPA), where a joint position was being developed for presentation to the Multi-Sectoral Working Group on the Two-Thirds Gender Principle.

Gilgil MP Martha Wangari emphasized the need for unity among female lawmakers, transcending party affiliations, to ensure the passage of the elusive gender principle in parliament.

She said: “As women leaders, it is incumbent upon us to show leadership and spearhead the campaign for the passage of the two-thirds Gender rule. We succeed only if we work together and speak in one voice.”

Machakos County Woman Representative Joyce Kamene and her Traszoia counterpart Lillian Siyoi noted that reintroducing the gender rule Bill to Parliament would likely lead to its passage because of the current political goodwill.

Kamene emphasized the importance of public and stakeholder sensitization.

She said: “It should also be known that the Two-Thirds Gender Principle is not about women but all genders.”

 Siyoi added, “What we need to do is lobby our male counterparts and various stakeholders and partners. It will pass because we have the goodwill and support of the government and even that of the leadership of our major parties.

Promise to work

The assurances by the lawmakers come after President William Ruto promised to work with parliament to implement the said principle.

A total of 76 women were elected to the National Assembly comprising 29 women elected to represent single member constituencies as well as 47 women representatives while the senate comprises three elected women and 16 nominated ones.

Implementation of the two-thirds gender rule has remained elusive despite more than three attempts by MPs to push it through.

BBI collapse

The latest attempt to push for the rule through the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) collapsed after a landmark ruling declaring the process illegal.

An advisory by former Chief Justice David Maraga for President Uhuru Kenyatta to dissolve Parliament over the failure to implement the two-thirds gender rule failed to yield results.

MPs were required to give effect to Articles 27 (8) and 81(b) of the Constitution to ensure not more than two-thirds of members in elective and appointive positions are of the same gender.

 The law was supposed to have been passed by 2015, five years after the enactment of the 2010 Constitution, but subsequent amendments to the fifth schedule of the Constitution by the MPs saw the timeline extended

Apart from BBI and Maraga’s ruling, several other proposed amendments to attain the requirement also flopped in Parliament, with the latest one by the then Majority Leader Aden Duale in 2019 flopping due to lack of quorum.