The civilian led protests in Kenya have been an outstanding show of active citizenship and community building. Kenyans across class, tribe, generation, gender and political divide, have come together with the goal to agitate for a better country for all. In doing so, they have unearthed the deep rot that is the political class and the urgent work that all Kenyans of goodwill need to do to rescue our country.
One of the stinky parts of this rot is women’s representation in government. Before I go any further, let me pause here to say that I do not subscribe to the sexist notion that women should be more ethical than men, especially in leadership, simply because they are women. We have the capacity to be equal even in mediocrity as so aptly demonstrated by our current government, and so the question of leadership is not a gendered question, but a values one.
Also, this is your reminder that men have been in leadership for most of humanity’s history and royally screwed up the world, and no one is questioning men’s competence as a gender, so spare us that recycled diatribe dressed up as an argument. And quit it with the sexist “jokes” and insults targeting women in government. Again, their incompetence isn’t gendered, thank you.
Kenyan women deserve to be in government because we are citizens of this country and make up half its population. We shouldn’t have to prove anything or convince anyone that we deserve representation. That being said, we do insist on better representation across gender.
There are many qualified women who can do the work of governance, and please take this as a call-out. We need women that are capable and share our values, to throw their hat in the ring in the next elections as the majority of the women we have in government right now also don’t cut it and must be part of the recall list.
The ongoing conversations around the Kenya we want and the kind of leadership we need have been a great exercise to really dig deep into what we envision for ourselves and our country. Some of the values Kenyans have expressed they’d like our representatives to espouse include competence, taking accountability, diligence, zero tolerance to corruption, fiscal responsibility, respect for the constitution, ability to listen to Kenyans, patriotic, focused on freedom and not amassing power, pro equality for all, among others.
It has become even more evident that Kenyan politics have long been divisive and have had no ideological driver, beyond tumbocracy for the political elites. You only need to look at how quickly politicians have closed ranks to protect their interests at the detriment of Kenyans, since the protests began. The women in government have been no different and have demonstrated the limits of representative politics not anchored by shared values.
We can no longer afford to have just anyone in governance. It has led to one of the most incompetent governments we have ever had. The government is literally littered with criminals and sycophants that have no plan for the country beyond looting public coffers and bragging about their ill-gotten wealth. As with anything, women suffer more.
The double whammy of an incompetent government and incompetent women leaders means that when we raise the alarm on femicide, violence against women and the challenges faced by girls and women in the face of increasing poverty in the country, we’re met with silence or half-hearted platitudes.
It’s truly shameful that we have women in parliament who instead of doing the work of legislation that is literally their job description, have instead fashioned themselves as celebrity philanthropists, complete with foundations bearing their names. Not that the men are any different. If you are incapable of doing your actual job, which is to legislate laws that uplift the material reality of the common mwananchi, resign.
And it’s not to say that the men in government get to ignore these pressing issues because they’re disproportionately affecting women, but women in government do need to offer leadership in these challenges. There’s too much at stake not to.
Another thing that’s been leaving a bad taste in my mouth is the use of women’s issues including femicide, gender-based violence and period poverty as vehicles for women in politics to prop themselves up as leaders, while they do nothing material and use those platforms to propel their political careers.
There are women and organisations doing actual work in these areas, and all these clout chasers do is to turn the spotlight towards themselves and take away needed resources from deserving initiatives. This must stop. If they want to truly support any issues, they should lend their support to existing initiatives, especially at the grassroots level.
We already have a long way to go with women representation in government. The two-third gender rule is still being treated as optional and there’s a growing sentiment that the Woman Rep seat is unnecessary and should be scrapped. Again, I reiterate that men have not been penalised for their incompetence based on gender, and we should not do it to women.
Women already face too many socio-economic barriers to get into politics. That seat should remain and we need to get women representation in government to at least one-third as per the constitution.
We need a serious rethinking of the ways in which we approach women representation. It’s clear the Woman Rep position has been used for mischief by parties where they lump majority of their women candidates to vie for the position, and this must be addressed. We have made progress with more women Governors and other elective seats, but there’s still a long way to go.
As we gear up for the next elections, we need to encourage and support women that are competent and share our values, or we’ll be stuck picking from the well-worn recycling bin of politicians. Kenyan women deserve better.
