Women Legislators have Failed

Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2009 13:21:01 +0000 [07:21:01 AM CST]
From: Kennedy Oduor [United Kingdom]
Subject: Women Legislators have Failed

There have been many campaigns and support for women candidates given our patriarchal systems and the many disadavantages that women face in electoral politics. These kind of support has come from Kenyans, NGOs, donors, western embassies and even churches and this has been going on since the re-introduction of multi-party politics. There have been good results and today Kenya has the highest number of women in parliament since independence.

But women legislators havent shown anything..any result that they can deliver..that they can be better than their men counterparts..they have shown that they are even worse. In the last parliament, it was only Njoki Ndungu who championed the Sex/Marriage Bill. Apart from activities in parliament women MPs have been very quiet about any national problem/issue going on.

Why couldnt they come out and support the push for MPs to pay taxes?

Why havent they brought any bill to parliament since 2007 for example a Bill that will make Maternal Health Care Free?

Why cant they even bring a Bill to parliament to make the provision of pads to ladies in our Schools as part of Free Education?

Why can they make their presence felt in parliament?

Why is that women MP seems to have no agenda at all in this parliament?

Kenyan Budget is not gender neutral..Why havent women MPs demanded to be told what women get through the budgets every year that the budget is read?

One gets amused when women go to the press to complain about party positions after that parties have already chosen their leaders..were they sleeping when the process was going on? Why couldnt they go to the press before the act? Why couldnt they lobby earlier for these positions were dished out..there was no election in these parties.

Women MPs must prove that they deserve to be leaders once elected..we will not pack parliament with women simply because they are women..Serah Palin was a woman but a big dissapoint..No one refused to vote for her just because she is a woman but she lacked any capacity to do anything serious..Women must step up their game in these murky waters of electoral politics..

Women MPs wake up and smell the coffee..2012 isnt that far do something in this parliament so that Kenyans will remember that when women were 23 in parliament they did this and this…Stop slumbering in that august house..
Kennedy…

— On Sun, 18/1/09, George Nyongesa wrote:

From: George Nyongesa
Subject: Re: Kibaki-Raila: Where are the women in the super 12 cabinet?
Date: Sunday, 18 January, 2009, 5:09 AM

Dr. Abonyo,

I too agree that Mercy presents a substantive situational argument.

However, we must be careful in considering the situational argument since if we do not go further we limit ourselves and we will miss the larger picture – the principle of integrative leadership. If we focus on the shortcomings and failures of the past and present Women parliamentarians we will be falling for lame thinking that debases the case for integrative leadership. Perhaps an illustration of what I mean – when we champion education for the girl child in an area where they were previously not receiving it, if the first batch of girl beneficiaries perform below expectation (situational argument), we will not be quick to focus on this and use it as a basis to write off the larger picture (education for all). The principle of education for all remains true only that it is now faced with a challenge.

The problem with Kenya is the misfortune in its leadership. We struggle from an inadequacy of intelletual firmness in our political thought. Somewhat there I plagiarise Chinua Achebe, but only as a sincere form of flattery. The objective we seek is to push for a leadership thinking that seeks to bring all perspectives on board in steering national development.

For sure, we must be in agreement that (chauvinism, feminism and other like “isms” aside) women’s worldview is unique from that of men. That on its own is as good a basis as any from which to challenge Kibaki-Raila “male club” purporting to be coordinators in recreating a peaceful and just Kenya from chaos of post poll crisis. Further, let me hasten to add too that young people’s perspective of the world is different. They embody the agility and dynamism we need to fast track ourselves from 3rd World to 1st World. But despite their unique perspectives, none of men, women or youth can go it alone. In the struggle to reimagine and recreate Kenya, all these perspectives (male, female, youth) are crucial.

We must differentiate between the wrong application of a principle and getting a wrong answer, from the inherent goodness of the principle. That is the premise from which we must steadfastly hold President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila accountable when they err in their application of the principle of inclusion. Inclusive leadership is not about tribal mix, as it has been in Kenya’s politics since independence. Therefore, we must demand that the super cabinet of 12 must have women representation and even some young persons.

On that note, let me again ask, is there anyone out there with creative ideas on how we can peaceful drammatize our anger at the bad leadership of President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila?

George Nyongesa
Bunge la Mwananchi

— On Sun, 1/18/09, Barrack Bosire wrote:

From: Barrack Bosire
Subject: Re: Kibaki-Raila: Where are the women in the super 12 cabinet?
Date: Sunday, January 18, 2009, 6:42 AM

Mercy u have a point have never looked at it that way, let the few women lift up there positions, positions should not be demanded just for the sake of it.

Barrack

People don’t care how much you know, until they know, how much you care – Unknown

— On Sat, 1/17/09, mercy gichuru wrote:

From: mercy gichuru
Subject: Re: Kibaki-Raila: Where are the women in the super 12 cabinet?
Date: Saturday, January 17, 2009, 2:54 AM

I honestly don’t think it mattes much whether the women feature in the big twelve or not. I did personally think that the women would have been a voice of reason in the 10th parliament but I was duped. how many women volunteered to have their hefty salaries taxed,how many spoke up during the overcharging of fuel.they are only vocal when there’s positions to be shared.no pity from me.

On 1/17/09, George Nyongesa wrote:
Dear Comrades,

Kibaki-Raila: Where are the women in the super 12 cabinet?

The grand coalition government is teetering. In rescue attempts, the two Principals President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga have crafted a super Cabinet of 12; a tribal mix to continue their adventures of taking Kenyans for a ride. What is clear, without requiring deep analysis, is that the fat cabinet of 44 will now be relegated to the role of rubber stamping what has been decided by the super 12. That brings me to my beef (forgive my vocabulary ) with President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga: if they are serious in giving better leadership that will haul Kenya from the pits of post election crisis and its causes to the heights of better days, how is it that women are not represented in the super 12?

Why don’t they find women input important in salvaging Kenya from the desperate need for leadership?

I can remember clearly, during the last general election campaigns as the two competed to woo Kenyans, President Kibaki declared on the roof top of Kenyatta International Conference Centre that his leadership shall include 30% women and Prime Minister countered with an unequivocal echo from the Rift Valley Mountain top that his leadership shall include 50% women leadership. Were all these simply sweet nothings whispered into our gullible voter ears? Or what happened to the promises? Now that we ended up with a coalition leadership of the two promises, shouldn’t the top leadership of Kenya made up of a summation of the two promises – 80% women?

Brothers, Sisters, Mothers, Husbands, Wives and neighbours are we going to let this slide as we have in the past? Is there anyone out there with enough ANGER in their belly at this continued betrayal of pledges and promises made to people of Kenya by the two Principals, as I am?

Is there anyone with a creative idea of a dramatic peaceful protest that can exercise our outrage on this malfunction in leadership?

Please send me an email on grnyongesa@yahoo.com or
mwananchibunge@gmail.com,
or give me a call asap on + 254 720 451 235.
This email is copied to the Government spokesman, the President and the Prime Minister.

George Nyongesa
Bunge la Mwananchi
www.bulamwa.co.ke

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