Chief Justice David Maraga has advised President Uhuru Kenyatta to dissolve Parliament over failure to enact the two-thirds gender rule.
This follows CJ Maraga’s consideration of six petitions filed by different entities seeking Parliament’s dissolution over their failure to enact laws to promote women’s equal participation in political, social, cultural, and economic functions.
“On the material placed before me, it is incontestable that Parliament has not complied with the High Court order in Constitutional Petition No.371 of 2016. As such, for over 9 years now, Parliament has not enacted the legislation required to implement the two-thirds gender rule, which, as the Court of Appeal observed in its said judgment, is a clear testimony of Parliament’s lackadaisical attitude and conduct in this matter,” said Maraga.
The CJ said that he anticipates that the dissolution of Parliament will cause inconvenience and economic hardship.
Nonetheless, Maraga said that the dissolution must be done if the country is to reap the benefits of the 2010 Constitution.
“The fact that Kenya is in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic only exacerbates the potential impact of the decision. Yet that is the clear result Kenyans desired for Parliament’s failure to enact legislation they deemed necessary.
The six petitions to send MPs hoe were filed in the last two years by Margaret Toili, Fredrick Gichanga Mbugua’h, Stephen Owoko and John Wangai, Aoko Bernard, David Sudi and the Law Society of Kenya.
The petitions were based on grounds that Parliament ignored four court orders to enact the two-thirds gender rule in accordance with the Constitution.
The 10th Parliament failed to enact the affirmative action legislation and the Supreme Court, then under Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, gave lawmakers up to August 27, 2015, to pass the law.
