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"content": "challenges of funding, but please, also, kindly, listen to me. If I listened to you, listen to me when I say that the experiences of this country when it comes to gender - and when I talk about gender, I am not talking about just women, but I am talking about men and women. These issues cannot be buried again in the face of the new Constitution of 2010. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, even in the face of these challenges which we are addressing, although the Constitution allows us to have nine members in the Commission, we have recommended five. In fact, in the course of next week when I bring other Bills that are set to come before this House, you will begin to see that the Cabinet is now moving away from full-time commissioners. In order to address this issue, the Cabinet will be recommending that as we continue forming these commissions, we utilize Article 252 which says clearly that some commissioners can even be part-time, so that Kenyans will not be frightened by the element of cost only, but will be encouraged and above all, promoted by realizing that these are issues that we cannot afford to wait. There are those who are saying that South Africa, UK and America have one commission and are drifting towards one commission. Tell me, do they have female genital mutilation in America? Do they have the forced marriages of teenage girls in the UK? Will a South African man sit down to negotiate bride price for a female child, so that he can marry her off in support of culture, religion or in support of some of the issues that they have to go with such traditions? Indeed, if a person calling themselves a circumciser were to touch an American child to seek to circumcise that girl, they would go all the way to the Supreme Court and probably to Guantanamo Bay because it is a serious abuse. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, luckily, you are presiding over this and I am encouraged in saying that the time for this Commission has come. In formulating this policy, we ended up with many meetings and, in fact, although this Commission is now under my Ministry, hon. Shaban was the Chair of all the policy development meetings that we held. We met with women, men, people with disability and all characters that comprise our beautiful country. The conclusion was that, at this point in time, our Kenyans should learn that Article 27 of the Constitution has now equalized men and women before, during and after marriage; it has equalized men and women, before, during and after life. This means that even after death, they are equal. Until that culture is completely embraced and acknowledged in our psyche, thinking and in our daily lives, I will not be able to look my two granddaughters in the eye as the Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs, if I were to let this opportunity slip away when I am facilitating the implementation of the Constitution. If I were to leave the issue of gender parity and balance unresolved, I am afraid, I do not think I will even be able to face my Lord Jesus Christ when the time comes. He would say: “I was a girl; you did not fight for my equality. I was a girl; you did not fight for my protection against female genital mutilation. I was a girl; you did not protect me when I was forced into marriage when I was a teenager”. Never would I, Mutula Kilonzo, accept such a challenge when I go to Heaven because I know that that is where I am headed. I was saying these things to my good friend, hon. Ogindo, and suggesting that when the time comes, we need to meet. Hon. Karua, I hear you very well. At some point, I am going to seek to have discussions regarding how best we can accommodate this proposal in the Administrative"
}