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{
    "id": 601166,
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    "content": "dispensation to be written in the Constitution so that we do not have to be revisiting the criteria of gender representation in the future. In terms of competitive politics, at the moment, the law is weak in punishing gender discrimination in competitive politics. Sen. Ong’era is here and we belong to the same political party and coalition. We have had the onerous task of being very key officials in the biggest political parties in this country. I was a Secretary-General for close to 10 years and so was she the Executive Director for equally the same time. Our experience was that when you go to platforms for public rallies, women are thought of more or less as a group of people to be accommodated in terms of participation, but not a group of people who have a right to participate, especially given their demographic figures in both politics and society in general. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, when we go towards this new dispensation, the law should be improved to ensure that political parties when they are campaigning or holding rallies or discussions, gender representation is observed. It is only in political rallies, seminars, among others that the leadership qualities of individuals emerge. The young man called Isaac Mwaura who is now a Member of Parliament in the National Assembly was my mentee. From the beginning, he expressed his interest in politics. I told him that the only way to emerge in the political arena is not to belong to a party, but to participate and make oneself visible and to let the talent of leadership recognised. He consciously cultivated to an extent that when it came to nominating people to the National Assembly, representing minorities, it was obvious in the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) who was to represent minorities. Nobody had ever thought before that people with albinism are part of the minorities in this country. He made the issue of albinism visible and, therefore, something to be thought about when minorities are being looked into. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this has had a lot of impact in Tanzania which has a high population of people with albinism, but where people with albinism have not been as visible in politics as before. The visibility in the participatory process is important in making sure that what we put in the Constitution in the new dispensation and representation of either gender, particularly the women who are coming from a position of discrimination. I have always said that women are a majority minoritised. It is just like people in the third world. Colonialism made us a majority minoritised. Imagine that little England set in a silver sea - as Shakespeare used to say – of not more than 10 million people conquered many territories and turned majorities into minorities. Here in Kenya, a few settlers came with a few Government officers. They ruled and terrorized this country for more than 50 years. They were the minority, but given the ideology of colonialism and the power of the gun, they minoritised us. We really had to fight with them and plead with the world, the United Nations (UN) and so on, that we needed a majority rule. Just imagine the experience we went through. Do we want our women to also go through the same experience of liberating themselves from a majority minoritised rather than we – by pure constitutional rationality and the logic of democracy – making sure that we write rules of the game that will make sure that women and other minorities are properly represented in representative institutions? The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}