Jaoko expresses discontentment over cabinet decision on women

Written By:Halligan Agade,    Posted: Fri, Aug 19, 2011

KNCHR chair Florence Jaoko termed the cabinet decision as unconstitutional The decision by the cabinet to change the constitution to expunge the requirement that says at least a third of MPs in the next Parliament are women seems to have rubbed women the wrong way. Kenya National Commission on Human Rights Chair Florence Jaoko termed the cabinet decision as unconstitutional saying the one third rule is not permanent but rather a stop gap measure that will help to balance gender in elective positions. The next Parliament is likely to have 290 members and the one third rule in the new constitution means that 72 of those must be women. However the formula to arrive at that women representation has been difficult to come by prompting the cabinet to declare the Constitutional requirement impractical. But Jaoko says that this might deal a deadly blow to the smooth implementation of the new constitution. She says that traditionally, women have been disadvantaged owing to their social way of life and claimed that men have often capitalized on that weakness to outmaneuver them. She however regretted that women have not played their role of electing their own despite their massive numbers in the population. The decision by the cabinet thus opens another battlefront in implementation of the constitution.