Kenyan women are not happy with the absence of women on Uhuru Kenyatta's cabinet

godfred akoto

January 23, 2018 8:52 AM

Kenyan women want the president to appoint nine women to his cabinet

Gender groups in Kenya are demanding greater representation in President Uhuru Kenyattas cabinet after his first round of ministerial nominations neglected women.

There has been a growing concern in African politics that governments are not committed to improving the number of women in governance, with Rwanda perhaps the shining example on the continent.

Although several African countries have laws which set out the number of women who should participate in government, very few have been able to meet this quota and it is against this that the Centre for Rights, Education and Awareness in Kenya protested.

According to the group, the president should appoint nine women to his cabinet to fulfill the country's gender rule.

"It is unfortunate that no woman has so far been appointed or even nominated to the Cabinet. We demand justice. The President should act according to the Constitution," the group's chief executive, Wangeci Wachira is quoted by the Standard newspaper

“We have 76 women in the National Assembly, which is 41 short of the required number. In the Senate, the threshold for the two-thirds gender principle is 23 members of either gender. Yet there are only 21 female senators. This trend cannot be allowed to continue,” said Wachira.

President Kenyatta's previous cabinet had five women and it is the absence of popular Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary, Amina Mohammed that has caused the most angst.

godfred akoto