By Osoro Kenn
They are still recognized as unfit to be in leadership and to vie for positions of prominence in society. They are afraid of vying for competitive elective positions because of the ugly, expensive, uneven, and patriarchal nature of politics in Kenya. Some of them are forced to campaign in the odd hours at night, more so in the informal settlements, posing a risk. These are the battles they fight, and these are the women politicians in Kenya.
May Cecilia Ayot, former MCA in Laini Saba Ward, Nairobi County, is one of the women politicians who stood out in the hard struggle of campaigning at night in the 2022 general elections. This is because most families in the informal urban settlements are only available in the evening after work.
Ayot, like any other woman politician, was dedicated and motivated to win but sometimes political reality overrides commitment. According to her, digital media was a setback and this made politics horrible to many women.
“The advent of digital spaces has seen more women criticized and made subject on social media platforms. We are body-shamed and cyberbullied. At times, our opponents could invade our privacy and family issues, making several women fear being in that space.”
Attention is paid to the fact that not enough effort has been done to give an equal chance to women politicians in Kenya and combat challenges that the one-term member of the county assembly (MCA) termed as retrogressive.
"Politics is very ugly, draining, and expensive for a woman. From just nominations, the first thing that normally happens to women is that they are beaten and at times even raped. This, in turn, scares women a lot,” she said.
Though the Constitution has enshrined provisions for gender principles, this has not yet seen women fully included in leadership positions in different categories.
The principle which should be legally manifested is still throwing shades at women politicians who are forced to try the hard way and by all means to ascend to power.
One of the things that prompted the promulgation of the new constitution was a sense that the governance structure and development of the country were very exclusive at the time. It left too many people and regions behind, among them women, youth, and persons living with disabilities.
This resulted in 'not more than two-thirds gender' as an inclusion principle which stated that in any elective or appointive public body, there should not be more than two-thirds of one gender, and at the very least there must be a third of the opposite gender.
This principle, within the confines of the Constitution under articles 100 and 177, also talks of the representation of women, special interests, and members of marginalized groups.
Representation in different categories in the 13th Parliament noted an improvement from the last two election cycles. As such, the number of female gubernatorial candidates increased from 9 in 2017 to 22 in 2022. Out of the 22, 7 women were elected as county bosses up from 3 in 2017 and a constant number of 3 female senators in the last two elections. This showed success, though unsatisfactory.
The National and County Assembly
In the 12th parliament, The National Assembly had 76 women MPs, of whom 47 were woman representatives, 23 were from member constituencies, and 6 were nominated to represent special interest groups.
Despite this progress, women's representation in other elective positions like MPs and MCAs failed to meet the constitutional two-thirds threshold. Out of the 290 presently elected MPs, only 26 are female representing single-member constituencies, up from 23 in 2017.
From the current numbers in the National Assembly, there should be at least 117 MPs from the opposite gender as a third of 350 members. These include 290 elected MPs, 47 woman rep seats, 12 nominated members and the speaker. This was a shortage of 35 female MPs needed through nomination to bridge the gap in 2022.
In the 13th parliament there was however a marginal increase in the number of nominated women with a bid to streamline the gender gap.
[data]Political parties, through Political Parties Act 2011, are tasked to ensure free and fair nominations and can be deregistered by the political party registrar if it contravenes article 81 (b) which states that not more than two-thirds of the members of elective bodies shall be of the same gender.
Parties under this Act are tasked to promote inclusiveness in nominating candidates for various positions while taking note of gender principles. Unfortunately, these political parties have not yet fully implemented these legal provisions to the latter.
An improvement, however unsatisfactory, was also seen in the last election (2022) which recorded the highest number of elected women MCAs compared to previous polls. This according to Daisy Amdany, governance and women’s rights expert, was attributed to awareness, urge, and aspiration by more women who joined politics.
The outcome however positive it was, still proved futile and signified the elusiveness of this principle, as such, there was a decrease of 10.1 percent noted despite it being an outstanding election with the greatest number of women elected from the last three polls.
In the Nairobi county assembly, there were only four female MCAs down by one, adding on to the provisions of the political parties' nomination, the IEBC gazetted a list of 39 nominated members.
The list included a total of 37 women nominated MCAs and two males representing the youth and marginalized groups. This led to a total of 41 women, which met the two-thirds minimum threshold of the 124 members in the assembly. This was, however, only met after the nomination of candidates.
The four were Rosemary Masitsa (Kibra Makina), Scolastica Muthoni (Embakasi South, Kwa Reuben), Esther Waithira (Starehe, Nairobi South) and Susan Makungu (Mathare, Mlango Kubwa).
Out of 8,962 candidates, the electoral body gazetted 1,136 women MCAs, of whom, 115 were elected. This was a 19.8 percent increase from 2017 when only 96 women were elected. The rise has been driven by the ever-growing number of women contenders in elective positions.
The past elections post-2010 constitutional amendment has seen a minimal upward trajectory. Of the 2,659 female MCA aspirants in the last three consecutive elections, only 293 have since been elected. This only represents an 11 percent success rate of women who have ascended to power.
From 623 gazetted female MCA aspirants in 2013, only 82 were elected representing 13.2 percent. Similarly, in 2017, of the 900 registered candidates, only 96 emerged victors, this was about 10.7 percent.
Despite this upward trajectory across three elections, a 10.1 percent decrease was however noted in the 2022 elections even though this was an outstanding election with the highest number of elected women MCAs.
From the illustration above, the number of elected women is increasing, though marginal.
In a memorandum dated December 9, 2022, addressed to the speakers of the bicameral parliament, President William Ruto asked the parliament to resolve the stalemate on the implementation of the aforesaid gender equity principle.
The head of state wanted the parliament to establish a workable formula and amend article 97 of the constitution, which he said should be based only on the number of members elected in the National Assembly from the constituencies and counties.
According to this article, the membership of the National Assembly constitutes 290 members, 47 women representatives, 12 members nominated by parliamentary political parties to represent special interest groups, and the Speaker.
This followed a commitment by the parliamentary leadership to adopt and implement these proposals, but since then, nothing much has changed leaving it as empty rhetoric. In the government’s appointments made at the time, Ruto’s administration was still far from meeting the gender requirement.
Of the 25 CS appointments, only seven were women. This represented 28 percent of appointments that still did not meet the constitutional threshold in either gender.
Tracing the journey of two-thirds principle
This principle has historically remained a hard nut to crack, having failed on four occasions- three attempts by the National Assembly and one by the Senate. MPs first rejected it after the promulgation of the new constitution. Daisy Amdany, who is a governance, development, and women's rights expert, shed light noting that there is still a legal framework push to see it through.
“There are political dynamics that make it difficult to achieve gender principles since time immemorial. These include political interests but there is still a push for the legal framework to enable women representation at an elective level.”
In 2018, voting on the gender bill was postponed, and there was a similar attempt in 2016 and 2017, all faceted by lack of quorum.
The latest push in 2019 during a debate on the Amendment Bill 2018 was nothing new after the lack of quorum saw the end of the day yet again. Only two-thirds of MPs required to vote were present in the National Assembly by then.
The Constitution of Kenya under Article 177 compels the bicameral Parliament and County Assembly to exercise gender inclusion by providing some special seats necessary to ensure that no more than two-thirds of the membership of the assembly is of the same gender.
This provision complements occasions where the gender inclusion principle is not met including the six counties that did not, apart from woman representative seats, elect women as MCAs, MPs, Governors, and Senators.
These counties, according to data obtained from United Women Africa, include Garissa, Mandera, Marsabit, Samburu, Kajiado, and Nyamira.
Amdany, who doubles up as the executive director in CRAWN Trust, clarified that those counties are largely traditional and decisions they make are instigated by clan elders, who she said are male-dominated. She further noted that such communities engage in negotiated democracy embodied by a mindset that does not recognize women's leadership.
“The system has made it difficult for women to be elected, but then the constitution has made it imperative for them to be nominated. Let them be nominated as long as two-thirds gender principle is met.”
According to her, the main challenge is getting political parties to do an awareness campaign and educate society on the need to incorporate both genders. She hopefully noted that with time the dynamics of politics in those six aforesaid counties will change.
In the MCA docket from the last poll, out of 8,962 aspirants, there was a generally recorded low number of women aspirants, as such, most wards registered an average of five aspirants, averagely less than one percent of the total number of candidates.
In Nairobi for instance, of 44 aspirants in five wards in Westlands women were only six. Dagoretti South also saw three female aspirants out of 37, the same pattern denoted across all wards.
In the illustration below, there were more male members of county assembly contenders than females.
Four women were elected as MCAs in Nairobi, a drop compared to the previous assembly which had five. In the IEBC data, out of the four, UDA fronted two, Wiper Democratic Movement and Orange Democratic Movement shared the remaining two.
Former MP Aspirant Malhasen Hamida attributed low women representation to a lack of what she termed as a level playing ground in politics.
Malhasen reiterated that there is unfairness in most political parties adding that there is still a wide room for political parties to improve.
“Political parties have a lot of issues to settle ranging from unfairness, but we cannot all fit in one political party because only one party candidate vies in an elective position at a given time.”
She further said most parties do not give women a chance to participate in elective positions, because of stereotypical notions related to lack of confidence in their governance, and as such, she refuted claims that having a party ticket is tantamount to winning. The politician further argued that the political landscape in Kenya is dynamic.
Malhasen went ahead and faulted geopolitical zoning in last year’s August poll saying that it affected the majority of women who were zoned. This she stated paved the way for most male aspirants, as this resulted in low female representation.
According to her, women undergo a lot of challenges, which include a lack of enough funds for campaigns, insecurity, and intimidation.
“Unlike men, women never use their last coin to campaign but would instead use it as family upkeep among other responsibilities. Politics is very expensive because we have to ensure our safety during campaigns, and as such, we hire security personnel.”
It is still unarguable that such challenges have caused the underrepresentation of women in positions of power and party politics, as data also reveals that most political parties in Kenya are presently headed by male politicians who often have a voice.
May Ayot, who lost in the last general elections, said implementation of the gender inclusivity principle can only see the light of the day if party leaders and their lieutenants embrace the spirit of goodwill in governance and leadership structure.
“Gender principle can only be implemented if party principles and their lieutenants embrace the spirit of goodwill on women leadership.” She stated.
Political party gender representation
All five parties that took centre stage in Nairobi County in the last general election are headed by men. They include the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), Kalonzo-led faction Wiper, the Jubilee Party, and Moses Kuria's Chama Cha Kazi party.
In these parties, out of 85 elected MCAs published in the Kenya Gazette, ODM bagged the bulk of seats, 36, representing 42.4 percent against 35 from UDA, 41.1 percent.
The ruling party UDA had two female elected MCAs while the Raila-led party ODM gave out one - Rosemary Masitsa of Makina ward (Kibra).
Wiper Party on the other hand got 4 MCAs, of which one was a woman MCA from Embakasi South’s Mukuru Kwa Reuben ward, Scolastica Muthoni Mande who garnered 5,510 votes.
The previous Nairobi county assembly (2017-2022) had Jubilee’s Millicent Mugadi of Kariokor ward, ODM’s May Cecilia Ayot (Laini Saba) and Rose Ogonda (Kware ward), Mlango Kubwa’s Patricia Mutheu and Waithera Chege of the Jubilee Party. All except Waithera lost in the last general election.
UDA dominated in the Starehe constituency, scooping all six MCA positions. Out of the 45 registered aspirants, of whom seven were women, no female aspirant emerged as a winner. Similarly, all five slots in the Ruaraka constituency bagged by ODM were predominantly secured by men.
This data-driven pattern denotes dwindling women's space in politics brought about by politically instigated challenges that women politicians still juggle with.
These challenges according to Malhasen Hamida and Editar Vitalis, (Kibra Member of Parliament aspirant 2019 through Ukweli party) adding onto the already mentioned include patriarchy which they said has enslaved Kenyan politics.
"Most women have no chance and do not vie because they feel like politics is a patriarchal society majorly dominated by male counterparts," Vitalis noted.
"Parties play a pivotal role. They dictate the result of an election. I did not vie through ODM but through Ukweli Party because ODM and those other parties had got their ‘owners,’” she further claimed.
The two allayed concerns over gaps to be filled to ascertain the practical implementation of the gender parity principle. They further called on political parties to execute it.
The duo also called for the need for a shared commitment by leaders to work on various enactments aimed at leveraging a combined effort to promote the practical implementation of the gender principle.
Osoro Kenn is a bilingual broadcast and print media journalist. A cross-section of his writing has often appeared in Capital FM News, Capital FM Business, Talk Africa, Pamoja FM News amongst many other key media outlets.
Osoro is also a data journalist and has a wide range of experience in broadcast media having been in Capital FM, Pamoja FM, Gulf Radio and KBC Mayienga FM.
This story was developed as part of the Baraza-Fringe Data Storytelling Fellowship.
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