Women lobby for guaranteed parliamentary seats as BBI kicks off
Women leaders are lobbying for guaranteed seats at the National Assembly as the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) discussion kicks off.
Speaking in Nairobi on Saturday, Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu said despite women leaders supporting BBI because there are many gender gains, there is a big gap in the National Assembly where women have no guaranteed seats.
“As the conservation continues ,our expectation is that this matter of the two-thirds implementation mechanism in the national assembly will be firmly,explicitly and finally addressed to ensure full implementation of the two- thirds gender rule in both houses,”she says.
According to her,women's agenda should be at the centre of this national conversation if we want to have a fully inclusive nation.To her the BBI process should not only focus on building ethnic community bridges but also should focus on building gender bridges.
“Women of Kenya are expecting the BBI process to determine some of the long unresolved gender issues.BBI must go beyond this singular issue of expansion of the Executive.”
Former Nyeri Women Rep Priscilla Nyokabi said the National Assembly should be like the Senate on the 50:50 men: women representation.
“We reiterate our full support for the BBI process with the guarantee that women gains in the constitution of Kenya will not be eroded and that both the men and women of this great nation will equally achieve shared prosperity,” said Nyokabi.
Some of the gender gains in the BBI report include: the senate that has a balanced representation of elected men and women, governor and deputy governor being of opposite gender and others.
