Kenya Parliament Vote on Gender Bill Vote: What You Need to Know
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 28 2018
Kenya Daily Nation
MPs during debate on the gender bill on November 21, 2018. The 12th Parliament could be dissolved if MPs do not enact the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2018, when the vote is taken on November 28,2018. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
In Summary
Members of Parliament will on Wednesday afternoon vote on the enactment of the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill 2018.
For the bill to sail through to the third reading stage, it requires two-thirds, majority or at least 233 of the MPs to support it.
A recent meeting organised by Kenya Women Parliamentary Association to drum up support for the bill, attracted only 15 women legislators out of the 75 elected and nominated women MPs.
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By DAVID MWERE
The gender bill, which seeks to amend the Constitution to provide for the special nomination seats for women to bridge the gender gap in Parliament, is set for consideration in the National Assembly Wednesday afternoon.
But, the bill is running into headwinds because of lack of serious lobbying, meaning that it could fail if brought for debate going by the mood of the 349 members in the National Assembly.
For the bill to sail through to the third reading stage, it requires two-thirds, majority or at least 233 of the MPs to support it.
NEXT SESSION
The Leader of Majority in the National Assembly Aden Duale has two options. The first option is to have the bill voted on or request House Speaker Justin Muturi to have the voting deferred to the next session of the current Parliament.
If Mr Duale does not ask for deferment and attempts to have it voted on, if the members in the House at the time of voting are less than 233, the bill will be negatived.
This means that it can only be introduced afresh in the second session of the current 12th Parliament after six months.
The reintroduction will mean that it be published afresh and must undergo all the process required once a bill is introduced.
The impact of this and according to the House rules, the earliest the bill can see the light of the day is in June 2019, if all the factors remain constant.
Because it is a constitutional bill, it will take another 90 days for it to mature, that is, if it is reintroduced, before members can start debate on it afresh.
The Constitution provides that a constitutional bill will mature after 90 days after its introduction.
Counting 90 days from June next year means that it can only be ripe for debate in September 2019.
2020
These timelines are only tentative, that is, if the House Business Committee (HBC) chaired by the House Speaker prioritises the bill, otherwise the bill runs the risk of extending to 2020.
The HBC sets the agenda of the House on a weekly basis.
The last attempt to have the bill passed was in 2016. Therefore, deferment is the only way that will make the bill alive and therefore relevant to the next session of the House.
This will provide room for lobbying ahead of the voting.
Standing Order 141 (1) of the National Assembly provides that a bill, the second reading or third reading of which has been rejected, may be introduced again in the next session, or after the lapse of six months in the same session but subject to fresh publication.
However, sub clause (2) provides that a bill whose second reading has been concluded at the end of a session it was published, shall resume in the next session of the same parliament at the stage where it was interrupted.
DEBATE
This bill was published in the current session meaning that it can only lapse in the next session if debate is not concluded.
The rules also provide that a bill only lapses at the second session where it was not published as well as at the end of the term of parliament.
Nevertheless, a majority of the MPs claim that the bill is where it is today because of lack of serious lobbying.
“Women MPs are busy lobbying outside there. They have not reached to their male colleagues in parliament. We wonder how far they intend to go with this because it is not those outside there who will vote but us,” a male MP, who did not want to go on record, said.
A recent meeting organised by Kenya Women Parliamentary Association to drum up support for the bill, attracted only 15 women legislators out of the 75 elected and nominated women MPs.
KEWOPA
Eldas MP Adan Keynan, who attended the event, told the women MPs that they are not serious.
This raises questions on the current leadership of Kewopa. “It has been mute, absent and clueless as far as this bill is concerned,” a member of Kewopa said.
In the last parliament, former Woman Representatives Priscilla Nyokabi (Nyeri) and Florence Kajuju (Meru) were so forceful in their quest to have the bill passed.
Though it failed after the House did not get the requisite numbers, they did serious lobbying.
“The current leadership is poor at tact and everything. Their purported lobbying outside parliament could be a well generated scheme to show their financiers that they did something when they actually did nothing,” a male MP said.
The women legislators are also using the courts to threaten their male colleagues that if they do not support, Parliament will be dissolved. But the male MPs are arguing that they cannot vote under threats.
Kenya Daily Nation
MPs during debate on the gender bill on November 21, 2018. The 12th Parliament could be dissolved if MPs do not enact the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2018, when the vote is taken on November 28,2018. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
In Summary
Members of Parliament will on Wednesday afternoon vote on the enactment of the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill 2018.
For the bill to sail through to the third reading stage, it requires two-thirds, majority or at least 233 of the MPs to support it.
A recent meeting organised by Kenya Women Parliamentary Association to drum up support for the bill, attracted only 15 women legislators out of the 75 elected and nominated women MPs.
ADVERTISEMENT
By DAVID MWERE
The gender bill, which seeks to amend the Constitution to provide for the special nomination seats for women to bridge the gender gap in Parliament, is set for consideration in the National Assembly Wednesday afternoon.
But, the bill is running into headwinds because of lack of serious lobbying, meaning that it could fail if brought for debate going by the mood of the 349 members in the National Assembly.
For the bill to sail through to the third reading stage, it requires two-thirds, majority or at least 233 of the MPs to support it.
NEXT SESSION
The Leader of Majority in the National Assembly Aden Duale has two options. The first option is to have the bill voted on or request House Speaker Justin Muturi to have the voting deferred to the next session of the current Parliament.
If Mr Duale does not ask for deferment and attempts to have it voted on, if the members in the House at the time of voting are less than 233, the bill will be negatived.
This means that it can only be introduced afresh in the second session of the current 12th Parliament after six months.
The reintroduction will mean that it be published afresh and must undergo all the process required once a bill is introduced.
The impact of this and according to the House rules, the earliest the bill can see the light of the day is in June 2019, if all the factors remain constant.
Because it is a constitutional bill, it will take another 90 days for it to mature, that is, if it is reintroduced, before members can start debate on it afresh.
The Constitution provides that a constitutional bill will mature after 90 days after its introduction.
Counting 90 days from June next year means that it can only be ripe for debate in September 2019.
2020
These timelines are only tentative, that is, if the House Business Committee (HBC) chaired by the House Speaker prioritises the bill, otherwise the bill runs the risk of extending to 2020.
The HBC sets the agenda of the House on a weekly basis.
The last attempt to have the bill passed was in 2016. Therefore, deferment is the only way that will make the bill alive and therefore relevant to the next session of the House.
This will provide room for lobbying ahead of the voting.
Standing Order 141 (1) of the National Assembly provides that a bill, the second reading or third reading of which has been rejected, may be introduced again in the next session, or after the lapse of six months in the same session but subject to fresh publication.
However, sub clause (2) provides that a bill whose second reading has been concluded at the end of a session it was published, shall resume in the next session of the same parliament at the stage where it was interrupted.
DEBATE
This bill was published in the current session meaning that it can only lapse in the next session if debate is not concluded.
The rules also provide that a bill only lapses at the second session where it was not published as well as at the end of the term of parliament.
Nevertheless, a majority of the MPs claim that the bill is where it is today because of lack of serious lobbying.
“Women MPs are busy lobbying outside there. They have not reached to their male colleagues in parliament. We wonder how far they intend to go with this because it is not those outside there who will vote but us,” a male MP, who did not want to go on record, said.
A recent meeting organised by Kenya Women Parliamentary Association to drum up support for the bill, attracted only 15 women legislators out of the 75 elected and nominated women MPs.
KEWOPA
Eldas MP Adan Keynan, who attended the event, told the women MPs that they are not serious.
This raises questions on the current leadership of Kewopa. “It has been mute, absent and clueless as far as this bill is concerned,” a member of Kewopa said.
In the last parliament, former Woman Representatives Priscilla Nyokabi (Nyeri) and Florence Kajuju (Meru) were so forceful in their quest to have the bill passed.
Though it failed after the House did not get the requisite numbers, they did serious lobbying.
“The current leadership is poor at tact and everything. Their purported lobbying outside parliament could be a well generated scheme to show their financiers that they did something when they actually did nothing,” a male MP said.
The women legislators are also using the courts to threaten their male colleagues that if they do not support, Parliament will be dissolved. But the male MPs are arguing that they cannot vote under threats.
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