Women must look beyond nominations, prove value to parties

As women seek to hold at least two-thirds of elective positions, the burden of clinching the seats squarely lies on their preparedness to compete.

On two accounts, Kandara MP Ms Alice Wahome has challenged nominated women to seek elective positions to advance attainment of the two-thirds gender principle in political leadership.

Before her election in 2013, Ms Wahome lost twice. And her win was preceded with a fierce contest characterised with stereotyped mudslinging.

On the day of taking votes to nominate candidates, she said, condoms labelled as a gift from her to her constituents were littered in the polling stations, an act meant to dissuade voters.

Elective seats

During an October 1 Women Must Lead meeting with members of the Nairobi County Assembly women caucus, Ms Wahome emphasised that time is ripe for the nominated women to move positions.

“You need to start thinking of running (for elective seats),” she said in the meeting convened by African Women’s Development and Communication Network (Femnet).

“I don’t think you should wait for nomination because that is an opportunity for another woman,” she added.

Separately, during the September 8 Women and their Journey Towards Electoral Contest in Kenya webinar by Centre for Multiparty Democracy-Kenya (CMD-Kenya), Ms Wahome urged women to look beyond nominations.

There are female legislators who have risen from nominations to elective seats. This can be exemplified through Ms Fatuma Dullo who was a nominated senator in the 2013 elections but vied for the Isiolo senate seat and emerged victorious in the last poll. 

Improvement

Ms Martha Wangari was also nominated to Senate in 2013 and in 2017, she successfully vied for Gilgil parliamentary seat.

In the 11^th Parliament, Ms Naisula Lesuuda was also a Nominated Senator and now she is the elected MP for Samburu West. The same applies to Sarah Korere, who was initially nominated and she vied in 2017 clinching the Laikipia North MP seat.

There is an improvement in election of women to Parliament and county assemblies in the last two general elections.

In totality, women comprise 9.2 per cent of elected leaders in 2017, a marginal increase from 7.7 per cent in 2013, provides data from A Gender Analysis of the 2017 Kenya General Elections report by National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA Kenya)

Ms Wahome’s tip for a win is for women to seek mentorship from experienced current or former female legislators.

Political parties

This is alongside creating networks with women in the civil society and at the grassroots to create a bedrock of financial, material and moral support.

Unless vying as an independent candidate, for women candidates to draw support from their own political parties, proving their value is inevitable, according to the Kandara MP. 

 “You will have a clout to have a political cost for your party. So that the party can see that you are value to them. And that you should not be the first to be cleared,” she said in the CMD-Kenya meeting.

Gendered violence

She added: “Politics is a competition and you must agree to enter into the competition without expecting too much of favour but too much of merit.”

Femnet executive director, Ms Memory Kachambwa, who spoke during the Women Must Lead Forum, said women must unite to end gendered violence during political campaigns.

 “We must unequivocally say ‘NO’ to violence,” she said.

Ms Kachambwa said to support women rise into political leadership, there must be collaborate efforts from both public and private stakeholders to eliminate structural and systematic barriers including stereotypes that hinder women from becoming effective leaders.