Ford Kenya secretary general and Tongaren MP Moses Wetang’ula has dismissed the gender parity Bill as an incomplete answer to Kenya’s representation problem, saying Parliament is trying to solve a deep structural issue with weak legislation.
Wetang’ula said the proposal contains loopholes and wrongly assumes the two-thirds gender rule is tied to the 290 constituencies. In his view, the rule applies to the full membership of the National Assembly, which he put at 349, meaning the House would need 43 more members to meet the threshold, not 22.
He argued that the real obstacle is the country’s electoral system. According to him, elections are so fiercely contested that women are disadvantaged, and Parliament should go further by amending electoral laws to introduce proportional representation.
Wetang’ula said such a shift would help resolve the gender question and reduce the violence and hostility that often accompany elections. He added that if MPs fail to pass the Bill, Parliament could be dissolved and the process would have to begin again from scratch.
He noted that many MPs have publicly backed the Bill and urged them to support it when voting. Even so, he maintained that any lasting solution must come from broader electoral reform rather than the current proposal alone.
Wetang’ula also said gender parity should be achieved gradually, pointing to the rise in the number of women in elective office from two or three at Independence to 23 in the National Assembly.
He concluded that the current approach is unnatural and said the two-thirds gender rule will only work if electoral laws are changed.
The Ford Kenya secretary general and Tongaren MP spoke to the Star
