Caroli Omondi calls for fresh look into controversial gender rule formula
Suba South MP Caroli Omondi has called for a fresh look at how Kenya calculates compliance with the constitutional two-thirds gender rule, arguing that the current method undermines the true intent of gender equity.
The lawmaker has reignited the push for a long-overdue legislative solution to the two-thirds gender rule, a promise that, fifteen years after the Constitution’s birth, remains largely unfulfilled.
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Speaking in an interview on a local TV station on Wednesday, August 27, 2025, Omondi questioned the basis upon which the Parliament claims to meet the two-thirds gender rule, a constitutional requirement designed to ensure fair representation of women in elected and appointed bodies.
“Our Parliament consists of 290 elected members, 47 women representatives, and 12 nominated members. The Constitution states that the two-thirds gender principle should be applied to all members,” Omondi noted.
However, the MP challenged the inclusion of women representatives and nominated members in calculating compliance with the gender rule, arguing that these positions are already part of affirmative action measures and should not be used to pad overall numbers.
“There’s a fundamental question: if the 47 women reps and the 12 nominated members are themselves affirmative action seats, how can they be counted toward fulfilling the gender quota?” he posed.
Omondi’s remarks shine a spotlight on a long-standing legal and political debate that has haunted successive parliaments. While the Constitution, enacted in 2010, clearly states that no more than two-thirds of the members of any elective or appointive body shall be of the same gender, Parliament has repeatedly failed to pass enabling legislation to operationalise this provision.
Numerous court rulings and advisory opinions, including from the Supreme Court, have declared Parliament in violation of the Constitution for failing to implement the rule. Attempts to pass gender compliance bills have repeatedly floundered due to political resistance and a lack of consensus.
The legislator suggested the need to rethink the arithmetic behind compliance and ensure that affirmative action seats are not being used as a loophole to mask deeper gender disparities in Kenya’s elected leadership.
“We need to go back and revisit this issue when calculating the two-thirds requirement,” he appealed.
