Embrace Team now wants the Building Bridges Initiative Taskforce experts to ensure that the two-thirds gender rule is addressed in the final report, ahead of its release. Sources privy to the final report indicate that there is proposal to increase the number of women elected, by having each county elect a female senator.
Led by Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru, the leaders have expressed confidence in resolving the elusive two-third gender rule permanently. “ We have been in support of the BBI because it presents an opportunity to address women’s issues. Two-third gender rule will no longer be another proposal to Parliament to enact, but a reality” Waiguru said.
In addition, Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo noted that the gains women have made in elective position should be protected “ The position of women representatives should not be scrapped”
In the event the proposal by the task force to have a female senator elected alongside a senator, then Kenyans will vote for 94 senators in the 2022 polls.
The BBI taskforce has also recommended that the running mate of every candidate for the position of the governor be of the opposite gender. This proposal means that more women would be at the helm of county leadership as either governors or deputies.
According to the women leaders, if the BBI proposals are implemented, true women empowerment will be achieved as well as the creation of jobs and opportunities for the country’s youth. Chief Justice David Maraga had advised that Parliament be dissolved for failure to enact the gender rule.
