WUNRN
"I Almost Have No Fare to Come Back to
Nairobi"
Joyce Mulama
NAIROBI, Sep 4 (IPS) - Posters, campaign appearances,
radio spots and television adverts: all are essential for winning office in
Kenya's general elections, set for December, and all cost money that
parliamentary candidates are responsible for raising in this East African
country.
Certain women aspirants have experienced difficulties
funding their campaigns, however -- perhaps an indication of how politics
remains very much a man's game in Kenya. Just eight percent of seats in the
nation's 222-member parliament are held by women.
"I have no resources of my own...I tried fundraising
from well wishers and I met many obstacles, with some people calling me a
beggar," Jennifer Masis, who has her sights set on a parliamentary seat in
Kwanza constituency in the western Rift Valley Province, told IPS. She is
campaigning under the banner of the opposition Orange Democratic
Movement-Kenya, which last month split from the country's main opposition
party: the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
Pamela Mburia tells a similar tale. She aims to win the
Nithi parliamentary seat in Eastern Province, but has yet to decide on party
allegiance.
"The roads are impassable and one has to hire a truck
to be able to reach some of the areas. It is expensive...I spend up to the last
coin, and sometimes I almost have no fare to come back to Nairobi. I depend
entirely on my salary," she said in an interview with IPS.
Tradition and culture have long conspired to give men
control of finances in Kenya.
"Women are disadvantaged because they have no
resources. Campaigns require that the one wooing voters ferries them(self) from
place to place in four wheel drive cars, prints campaign materials at their
cost, and dishes out handouts. These are expensive affairs that require lots of
money," Kennedy Masiime, executive director of the Centre for Governance
and Development, told IPS.
The question that begs asking is whether political parties
are giving their women candidates enough support with fundraising, to help them
overcome these drawbacks.
The National Rainbow Coalition-Kenya (NARC-K) claims its
conscience is clear. This party was formed after the ruling National Rainbow
Coalition -- NARC -- split in 2005 over a process of constitutional review.
Reports indicate that President Mwai Kibaki may stand on the NARC-K ticket in his
bid to get re-elected in December.
Sande Oyolo, NARC-K's director in charge of special
programmes, told IPS that the party assisted women candidates in need. Also,
"If it is a candidate who requires a powerful meeting in her constituency,
we rally behind her."
The ODM says it intends to support women parliamentary
candidates by campaigning alongside them across Kenya.
"This is now the new concept that we are adopting to
help expose these women. This will also lure more women into politics, because
we will be standing with them and asking the electorate to vote for
women," William Ruto, a leader in the party, said in an interview with
IPS.
Some women's groups aren't waiting to see whether such
promises translate into Kenya shillings, however: they have started to raise
money for female candidates, to give them a better shot at election victory.
"We are going to mobilise resources for women. We will
call international organisations (and) we will call well wishers," Health
Minister Charity Ngilu told IPS on behalf of the Kenya Women Parliamentarians
Association. IPS was not able to establish how much money has been raised to
date under this initiative.
The League of Kenya Women Voters, a non-governmental
organisation based in the capital of Nairobi, is another of the groups stepping
up to the plate -- albeit to a limited degree.
"Many women have declared an interest in vying for
elected positions, but not all of them have the capacity to go somewhere. We
will support only a few women who have shown the capacity to try and get over
the various hurdles during campaigns; the hurdles include (overcoming)
constraints with funds," Executive Director Irene Oloo told IPS.
To date, about 300 women have been in contact with the
league about running for parliamentary and local government seats.
It is also hoped that the Electoral Commission of Kenya
(ECK) might assist women in terms of the new Political Parties Bill, currently
being discussed by parliament.
Under the proposed bill, the state would fund political
parties. A provision in the proposed law links the amount of funding parties
can claim to the number of women candidates in those parties. In addition, it
is expected that the ECK would have a say over how parties spent their
allocations.
Cyprian Nyamwamu of the National Convention Executive
Council, an umbrella body for groups dealing with constitutional reform and
improved governance, says he hopes the ECK will act "to have a section of
parties' funds go to helping women candidates."
"Let political parties be given money to assist women
candidates. That is the only way women politicians will be able to compete on
an equal footing with their male counterparts," Nyamwamu told IPS.
Ruto puts the cost of a parliamentary campaign at between
44,000 and 59,000 dollars, no small amount in a country of widespread poverty.
But, warns Maina Kiai, chairman of the Kenya National
Commission on Human Rights, "A lot of expenses are because a lot of the money
goes to 'mobilising' people -- which turns out to be bribes and handouts. If
you were to do a clean campaign, it would not cost millions of shillings."
"What we need is a system and structure which controls
how people spend money for campaigns. Such a system is lacking."
In the complex world of Kenyan politics, however, even a
handout may not always fit neatly into the category of bribe. As Mburia notes,
"It is agony when the weekend comes, because that is when I visit my
constituency to see my people, some of whom travel from so far to listen to me.
After the meetings, they expect you to give them fare back to their homes.
Sometimes they do not listen with their ears, but their mouths: they need to
eat and you cannot run away from them."
Figures on the number of women who are braving the odds to
contest this year's elections will only become known three months before
polling.
General elections -- for the presidency, parliament and
local government -- are held every five years in Kenya.
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