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MPs failed to activate gender rule, must go
Women march in Nairobi on September 23, 2020.
Photo credit: Evans Habil | Nation Media Group
What you need to know:
- The expatiation around the gender rule is not confined to denial of women’s rights but also infringement of constitutionalism.
- Kenya has been in a constitutional crisis since 2010 as the Kibaki and Kenyatta regimes vehemently disobeyed the constitution by allowing unconstitutional parliaments to operate.
Following the judicial advisory by Chief Justice David Maraga to President Uhuru Kenyatta to dissolve Parliament for its failure to activate the two-thirds gender rule, the Head of State’ s hands are tied: He has 21 days to do so lest all the laws it has legislated be void.
National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi’s claim that the advisory is “unlawful and unconstitutional” encompasses the denial of constitutionally granted women’s representation in government and continuation of the erasure and violent patriarchal harm on women.
