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{
    "id": 1211764,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1211764/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 183,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kajiado County, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Leah Sankaire",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I rise to contribute to the Memorandum to this House by His Excellency the President through the Speaker. When you look at the issues raised in this memorandum, like the implementation of the two-thirds gender rule, it is true that this is a debate that has been evaded for so many years. We can no longer bury our heads in the sand like the proverbial ostrich. We really need to come out and address this issue. As indicated here, the last Parliament was not constitutionally constituted due to lack of the required number of women in this House. It is the same thing today. We need to address it. By the introduction of the affirmative action seat, we have seen the voice of women rising tremendously in Parliament. We have also seen women Members of National Assembly address the issues of women effectively. My contribution would be that since the affirmative action seat for women is coming to an end, we can retain it as it has encouraged so many women to transit to single Member constituencies. We have also seen women rise from the position of the County Woman Representative to even Governors. Further, we have seen tremendous shift as women continue to take positions of power because they were given a place in Parliament through this affirmative action seat. This has actually encouraged and made them more comfortable in vying for these positions that were occupied by men for a very long time. We have seen women doing tremendously well through this position. Therefore, as we continue to encourage more women to vie for other positions and to go for the single constituency seats so that we can increase the number in Parliament, the seat of the County Woman Representative can also be retained. We can see that the girl-child has really risen but in the recent past, the boy-child has been left out. This is because of the affirmative action that we have introduced and with time, girls have grown and known their space. They have taken their space in leadership and education. Therefore, as we continue to look for ways to increase the number of women in this House, we can continue with the affirmative action positions that we currently have. These positions encourage women. Eventually, when we achieve the numbers that we need in Parliament, these positions can always be scrapped. We can then continue fighting for the same positions as men and I am confident that we will get there with time. I know that Rome was The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}