On 19 November 2018, Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka said his party would back the Two-thirds Gender Bill when it returned to Parliament for voting on Tuesday.
He made the pledge in Nairobi during a meeting with the Kenya Women Parliamentarians Association (Kewopa), where he urged both Wiper MPs and the wider House to show up in large numbers and support the measure. Kalonzo described the Bill as necessary and argued that the country should move past the repeated delays that have blocked it before.
The legislation was being brought back after MPs rejected it in May 2016, despite heavy lobbying. In that vote, the Bill secured 178 votes, well short of the 233 required. Of the 180 MPs present, 16 voted against it and five did not vote, while 150 of the 349 MPs were absent.
Kalonzo said the government’s renewed anti-corruption drive would make it possible to fund the 21 additional members needed to meet constitutional requirements. He also dismissed claims that the Bill would create an excessive wage bill, insisting that its benefits outweighed the cost.
He said earlier attempts had been derailed by mistrust and by the mistaken belief that the law was meant to favour women. Kalonzo also accused some male lawmakers of previously threatening to frustrate the Bill either by voting against it or walking out during the division.
He asked why Kenya, which he described as the region’s economic powerhouse, should continue trailing Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda on gender representation. He also said the country should seize the chance to correct long-standing marginalisation of mothers, grandmothers, sisters and daughters.
Kalonzo added that if the Bill passed, the same principle should be extended to the Public Service to ensure full compliance with the Constitution in both letter and spirit.
