Fida-K offers free legal service to women mistreated in party primaries
Fida-K Deputy Executive Director Wanjiru Kamanda (left) with the organization's chairperson Nancy Ikinu, at a past event in Nairobi. Fida-K has offered free legal support to female aspirants with limited financial muscle to take their cases to court.
What you need to know:
- Fida-K will provide free legal services for women aspirants who will have claims of being unfairly rigged out in parties primaries.
- Nairobi County Commissioner Flora Mworoa, says government would not tolerate any form of discrimination against women engaged in politics.
The Federation of Women Lawyers-Kenya (Fida-K) will provide free legal services for women aspirants who will have claims of being unfairly rigged out during the forthcoming political parties’ primaries.
Sophie Kaibiria, Fida-K’s Senior Program Officer, Women and Governance, revealed this during the International Women’s Day commemoration ceremony held in Nairobi on March 3.
She said the offer targets women with limited financial muscle to take their cases to court.
This not only comes a few days to the International Women’s Day on March 8, but also at a time when efforts are being made to ensure more women participate in the August poll in a conducive environment.
Nairobi County Commissioner Flora Mworoa, said the government would not tolerate any form of discrimination against women engaged in politics, adding that all culprits will be dealt with firmly.
Empower women
Hailing the strides that have been made to not only empower women but also increase their representation in politics in the past decade, the commissioner said Kenya was on the right trajectory in fostering gender equality.
“On issue of elections, I wish to assure all of you that the government has done a lot in terms of preparations, especially on matters of ensuring there is no discrimination when it comes to women vying for various positions,” she said.
She also revealed there was a special team established in Nairobi to deal with matters of elections and ensure violence against women is dealt with early enough.
Various committees have also been set up in Nairobi’s sub-counties to give the government early signs of violence so that mitigation efforts are dispatched on time, Ms Mworoa said.
Gender equality
“The government is keen on gender equality and making sure anybody who wants to campaign and get an elective position has the freedom to do so, and that there is nothing that will make women fear to engage in politics,” she said.
Journalists for Human Rights-Kenya Team Leader Mustapha Dumbuya, said partnerships between the media, civil societies and community-based organisations were fundamental in educating the masses on election laws and processes. This, he said, would give them the impetus to hold the government to account in its mandate to ensure the rights of women engaged in politics are upheld.
He also urged the stakeholders to have integrity.
“If you do not have a moral standing, how can you hold other people to account. You cannot shine the torch on another person when you are in darkness yourself,” he said.
Founding President for Women in Real Estate Robyn Emerson, said there was a need to develop scorecards for counties to be used to rate how they performed in creating conducive environments for women to engage in politics.
Moneyed politicians
Crawn Trust Programme’s Manager, Lillian Kangethe, said it was important for women to understand that their votes mattered and that their participation in politics is more than just being mobilisers for the moneyed politicians.
“It is about time we utilised the mobilising power of women in the grassroots and have them mobilise women to vote for their fellow women,” she said.
The commemoration event was done in anticipation of the International Women’s Day set to happen next Tuesday. This year’s key objective will be to advance gender equality in the time of the climate crisis through women's leadership.
