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{
    "id": 740589,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/740589/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 183,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Oyugi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 444,
        "legal_name": "Augostinho Neto Oyugi",
        "slug": "augostinho-neto-oyugi"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. Indeed, it is a nice thing to see you in the Chair in the dying hours of this Parliament. We hope that in the 12th Parliament we will take more robust roles in terms of moving Kenya forward. When I was joining this Parliament, the first Bill that I championed was the Two-Thirds Gender Rule Laws (Amendment) Bill. I came together with my colleagues, Hon. Ken Okoth, Hon. Abdullahi Diriye, Hon. Rachael Ameso and Hon. Stephen Mule to ensure that the spirit of the Constitution under Article 27 is realised. We moved together with other members of civil society to champion the Green Amendment Campaign which, I am happy to report, will start very robustly at the end of this year. The reason we were doing that was to ensure that those constitutional principles, more so the rights enshrined in the Constitution are not just pies in the sky, but they are rather realisable for whosoever they are accorded. The rights of women in this country, with regard to election, is a story that is painful to tell. This is because you find persons of the female gender struggling during election time with men who come from various spheres. It is very difficult sometimes to get most of the women elected. So, when you see Hon. (Dr.) Shaban, Hon. Millie Odhiambo and other female Members of Parliament here, just know that they are not the ordinary type of ladies - They have worked hard to get elected to this House. There are many men who get defeated during elections and so for a woman to be elected, I think she deserves a pat on the back. This Bill that the Hon. Leader of the Majority Party has brought has fundamental flaws that need a lot of consideration. Whereas the spirit of this amendment is good, I do not think that the person who drafted this Bill read through it. Hon. Dr. Nyikal - and he is not a lawyer, but an intelligent doctor who has a philosophy of both law and medicine - has engaged me in serious legal discourse. To that extent, we have agreed that the phrasing of Clause 4 of this Bill is not a very good one. It is one that is unrealistic even though you would want to pass this Bill in its present form. There is a perception that this Clause 4 is the same as the principle of Article 177 of the Constitution. That is not the case. Having discussed with Hon. Dr. Nyikal, we agreed that there are two different sides to it. Article 177 talks about the entirety of the county assembly and so this should not just be a single clause. Clause 4 talks about Article 97 (1), which deals with the election of 290 MPs. That does not take into consideration the entirety of the House, that is, both the National Assembly and the Senate. So, what you have is the problem of tweaking the numbers. It will be difficult to realise two-thirds if you only deal with 290 Members. However, if you are dealing with the entire House as envisaged in Article 97, then you will have a solution. That is why the person who drafted this clause needs to reconsider it. We might pass it, but it still has a problem with regard to attaining and achieving the right numbers. So, the person who did this copy-and-pasting did not do a good job. Whereas we agree that the spirit of realising such rights is a good one, the drafting of this section is not good. Secondly, I think it is important to agree that affirmative action clauses with regard to gender ought to have a sunset clause. If you look at Clause 4(1)(c) regarding a total of 20 years lapse and then a further 10 years lapse, this is too much with regard to affirmative action. Let us be honest and fair that within 20 years we are able to put in principles within political parties and give capacity to women and make sure they have free competing space. We should not think that 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."
}