Ten by-elections but only one woman
UDA aspirant Teresa Bitutu casts her vote at Suneka Primary School polling station during the Bonchari Constituency by-elections on May 18, 2021. ODM's Mr Pavel Oimeke won the seat.
What you need to know:
- Out of the 13 candidates eyeing the Bonchari seat, only three were women and none won.
- Even in Wundanyi, Mbale Ward in Taita Taveta County, where the MCA seat was previously held by a woman - Beatrice Mwabili – a man won.
The list of elected female leaders is not growing. No woman was elected in the three by-elections conducted on Tuesday.
A total of five women were in the race for parliamentary seat for Bonchari (Kisii County) and Juja (Kiambu County).Only one woman contested for Member of County Assembly (MCA) seat Rurii Ward in Nyandarua County.
Out of the 13 candidates eyeing the Bonchari seat, only three were women and none won. They were Ms Mary Keraa (United Green Movement), Ms Margaret Nyabuto (Maendeleo Chap Party) and Ms Teresa Bitutu (United Democratic Alliance).
Ms Susan Waititu (Jubilee Party) and Ms Eunice Kagera (The New Democrats) also lost in Juja where they were competing against nine male candidates.
It was the same case for Ms Susan Wangeci (The New Democrats) who was the only female candidate among the six who eyed the Rurii Ward MCA seat.
So far, in all the ten by-elections conducted since the beginning of 2020, only one woman has won - Ms Esther Mwihaki (Gaturi Ward, Murang’a County).
Even in Wundanyi, Mbale Ward in Taita Taveta County, where the MCA seat was previously held by a woman - Beatrice Mwabili – a man won.
Replaced by a man
In the 2017 General Election, only 96 women were elected to the 47 county assemblies. Without any more wins for women, the figure remains static as Ms Mwihaki ostensibly replaces the late Mwabili in terms of numbers.
For the National Assembly, the number of female legislators has declined. Twenty three women were elected in 2017, but Grace Kipchoim who represented Baringo South died in 2018 and was replaced by a man.
The number of female deputy governors has, however, increased to 10 after Ms Ann Kananu Mwenda (Nairobi City County), Dr Caroline Wanjiru Karugu (Nyeri) and Dr. Joyce Wanjiku Ngugi (Kiambu County) took the reins.
Since 2017, only seven counties have had female deputy governors. These include Nandi (Yulita Mitei), Kwale (Fatuma Achani), Makueni (Adelina Mwau) and Nyandarua (Cecilia Mbuthia).
Others are Narok (Evalyn Chepkirui), Kericho (Susan Kikwai) and Delina Mlagui (Taita Taveta). Kikwai who died last March and was replaced by Ms Lilly Chepng’etich, thus retaining the number.
In the drive to attain two-thirds gender representation in political leadership, some leaders have preferred women to compete for elective seats
In January, this year, National Assembly Speaker Mr Justin Muturi said Kenya can progressively achieve two-thirds gender representation in political leadership through election of women.
He exemplified the increase in elected female MPs from 16 in 2013 to 23 in 2017, as proof to a gradual process of closing gender disparity in political leadership.
“Today, we have a woman Member of Parliament elected directly from Ijara, something that nobody could imagine… I know we will continue to have women elected from the single member constituencies,” he said in a local television interview on January 6.
But for a woman to win, she has to overcome a myriad of challenges, particularly gender-based humiliation and violence, lack of resources and societal expectations, a 2013 study on young women's political participation in Kenya, established.
The study was jointly done by Women’s Empowerment Link, Kenyatta University's Gender Roundtable Series and National Gender and Equality Commission.
