Sabina Chege opposes moving Women to the Senate
Wangari Njuguna and Njange Maina
Murang'a Women Representative Sabina Wanjiru Chege wants more National Assembly slots for female legislators in the Building Bridges Initiative(BBI) instead of transferring Women Representatives to the Senate.
Chege said the proposals in the BBI report to move the Women Representatives to the Senate is ill-advised as it will create a leadership crisis in the National Assembly.
She said the BBI report has given a clear outline on how the gender balance shall be achieved in the counties and also in the Senate, but the same has not been addressed for the National Assembly.
Speaking in Makuyu over the weekend, she said the debate on gender balance has been on for many years but a solution has not been found yet.
"If this slot is being scrapped off, we must be given another option on how to can have more women in leadership," she said.
She said if the position for Women Reps will be scrapped off, the 70 extra seats which have been proposed should be reserved for women adding that this will help in striking a balance.
"This slot was created after intense lobbying and we cannot afford to lose the gains achieved so far," she said.
Chege said even as the BBI campaigns kick off countrywide, they are going to push to see this agenda being addressed.
"We cannot leave this issue for the Parliament to sort it out as the current and previous assemblies failed to pass it," she said.
"There has to a way out, either by law or we have the position reinstated," she remarked.
She said with men dominating politics, there ought to be a better plan to incorporate more women in the Parliament for equal representation.
"We need an elaborate plan on how this issue will be addressed because we might have to wait for ages to have it sorted," she added.
The legislator also urged the public to read and understand the report before making a decision whether to support it or not.
"People should read and understand what is entailed in the report for them to know whether it is good or not," she said.
