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).