Rule of Thirds

The 1/3 Minimum is one of those things in the constitution we didn’t really think out properly. The new constitution guarantees 1/3 of elective seats are reserved for women. This was a noble attempted at gender equality but fundamentally one of the most undemocratic clauses of the constitution particularly if implemented incorrectly.

General principles for the electoral system81. The electoral system shall comply with the following principles–

• not more than two-thirds of the members of elective public bodies shall be of the same gender;-
  constitution of the Republic of Kenya
  

First I must note that I had serious reservations about this particular clause in the constitution, I just didn’t know how it was going to be done. Second it made the assumption that gender imbalance will always favour men, I wont be around in 500 years but I get the impression that in Kenya its going to be a woman’s world sooner rather than later. Kenyan women = very aggressive go getter types
I also have problems with top down affirmative action, I’d have rather had stronger policies that guarantee girls education and strengthened our education system to ensure that a girl can grow up to achieve any of her dreams. Political theory tells us that there’s a close link between political and economic empowerment. It is much more practical to focus on empowering women economically, which means our affirmative action interventions must begin at the lowest levels. The there’s a wealth of information on the open data which seems to suggest that there’s a significant drop in girls attending high school and again moving on to tertiary institutions. That’s where the problem lies with lack in terms of gender equality. (You can see this on the open data website here or if you’re lazy I can email you the nifty little charts I made looking this stuff up.) If we feel we need to have women in position of leadership we better increase the “pool” of electable women by making sure our girls are educated, further more to that we need women not just in school but studying the right things. (I’m for a national 5 year moratorium on B-Comm degrees) Much of the farming that’s done in Kenya is done by women (who stay at home on the farm) then why aren’t we encouraging women to study agriculture? If you doubt that just drive around and see how many men you see in farms or selling agricultural produce on the side of the road. Men may own the deeds to the land but women are doing the farming as much if not more than men.
There has been a suggestion (in order not to create a constitutional crisis) have suggested that we “reserve” certain posts on a rotational basis. So for example in the coming election (2012) Tigania west may be reserved so that women may stand. That presumes 2 important things, first there is no incumbency. As an male MP what would be my lot if when as an incumbent my constituency was up for women only leadership? It also assumes the electorate want to elect a woman, or that in actual fact a woman is best for that seat. For example what if Obama had to sit out his senate run because it was a woman’s turn? I think what Kenyan women want isn’t necessarily to have a percentage of women in leadership but rather leadership that effectively addresses their issues.
Being forced to vote of someone smacks of the “single party democracy” of the Kanu era, where the party told us where to put our votes. I’m offended I’ll vote for anybody who will take our country forward and nobody else. And this is something tribal chieftain type leaders would abuse to no end to consolidate a power base. What this would create I think would be a great number of women who are nothing more than “yes women” in parliament who are there to rubber-stamp whoever helped them in to power’s agenda. This would in turn engender a lack of confidence in women leaders undermining the whole system, setting women back politically much more than the current environment.
Anyway I’ve talked enough about the problem, so what is the solution: My idea is simple, (Let democracy do what it does) let the voters decide who is the best person for their constituency, be that a man or a woman. Create instead additional seats (this already exists in parilament through the “nominated MP” system) that are for the express purpose of meeting the 1/3 rule. If women are popularly elected they’d be one less available nomination seat. Divide these seats as percentages for each party based on election results. So for example if ODM was to win the most seats then the party chooses 30% of the nominated WMPs, PNU comes second gets 20% so on and so forth until every represented party (up to a certain threshold of course) gets a number of WMPs. If the 1/3 rule is met via popular election then there is no need for nominated WMPs (saving the country money). I really don’t see why such a system wouldn’t work at least in parliament and simmilar bodies (senate, councillors, etc) and wouldn’t be beneficial for Kenya. Nobody feels like anything is forced on them; You’ve given women an arena to cut their teeth politically (it’s a direct form of capacity building), and most of all you’ve averted a constitutional crisis. I think our solutions to constitutional problems must envision a future Kenya where certain issues may have been addressed by the social development of the country. The biggest weakness if find for our current constitution is that I feel that its too detailed to make sense in 400 years time where if Kenya still exists will be socially and developmentally different from the Kenya of today. It’s very much a document for today and the near future, so the solutions we develop must bear that in mind and correct it such that our descendants also benefit from it fully and live in a greater more prosperous country.
Alright that’s more than long enough for the twitter generation. Let me go hide because I know there’s going to be hate from many for me having the audacity to talk about women’s issues (again).

Man Vs. Rooster a true story

They say that every man has an enemy, someone who for whatever reason is decidedly anti-you. I have never believed this, saying that enemies are made in this modern day by how you relate to people. This was until I met my very own personal enemy who hated me merely because I exist. The following post is how I happened to come across my enemy.

It all began innocently enough, the home has been full of children so hearing children crying is nothing of great concern, usually it’s as a result of disagreements which include declarations of broken friendships which are quickly amended within five minutes. Little did I know a terror as bleak as Siberia had spread its influence upon our peaceful yard!

So it came time for the little ones to head home, but the idea resulted in them bursting in tears and the declaration that sealed my fate; they were scared of chickens! My first reaction was fear that the next generation of our family was going to be more than chicken they were going to be scared of chicken! Family pride was on the line; I had to rectify this. So I called the group together and marched them towards home in full confidence after all what is a chicken. Now along the way there was a tap which I told the boys to wash their feet, and any chicken that came near I told them to tell it “kwenda!” which being normal chickens they did; they scurried off much to the pleasure of the boys and much to my happiness having taught the boys a life lesson…This I was soon to discover was a grave error, from in the distance a red and black flash was falling upon up with Spartan fury. Wisely the young boys fled, and I assuming nothing of the flash stood my ground. This was my second error which was necessitated by the first. The angriest rooster on the planet was racing towards me, in the decisive moment still thinking this was an ordinary chicken I too raced towards it calling its bluff. A real game of chicken was afoot the rooster armed with beak and talons, me armed with little else other than my wits. Having already put my family pride on the line I was not about to accept defeat easily, after all the nephews were watching from a safe distance with blurry tear and terror filled eyes. The battle was on! At the decisive moment I swerved to my left in order to give my strong kicking foot the necessary thrust of an intent filled swipe at the hateful rooster. Thinking even a miss would frighten the animal. The agile rooster read my intent and dodged and counter attacked claws first. I feinted again to the left and spun expecting a palpable hit and a round-housed rooster begging for mercy. However only the air tasted my fury and the rooster had no intention of retreating. The battle continued for a few minutes with attack and counter attack from both sides until finally the jogoo made a critical mistake of falling for my dummy kick and proceeded to attack where upon it met a fury laced kick to the head and fell back. Prematurely I declared victory but the rooster was no David Haye and again attacked, again I landed a kick to its chest the tide of battle had turned, feeling my advantage had been established I stepped back (not wanting to kill another man’s chicken) Though looking in the rooster’s eyes I saw abhorrence; maybe it has an idea what me and my kind (black folk) had done to millions of his people. Maybe it was just a hateful rooster, but even in its retreat, it still had the spirit to fight on, as a result a Mexican stand-off ensued. Each step was met with a counter, until I had moved far enough, from there the chicken ran off to do what angry chickens do. My next move was to quickly move the boys home which I did with relative ease though the threat of the rooster was ever present. Then I had to make my way back, In order to do this I enlisted my trustworthy dogs as my auxiliary should the battle of jogoo have a part duex, however I made it back without any problems, but knowing full well I now have a bitter enemy. What I didn’t know prior to the battle is the chicken had terrorized the children, having chased on, and jumped on another’s back, it also had a reputation of chasing everybody.

I now have an enemy; should I ever meet the angry rooster again in the field of battle, only one of us will come out alive, and to the victor goes the breast and thigh piece! I believe that the victor will gain the strength of the defeated by consuming the flesh! And on that day I will have my bottle of hawt sauce ready, and I’ll have my face painted for battle. I only wish death (and the coronel’s secret spices) to my enemy!