WUNRN
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Kenyan
Women Push For MPs Quota |
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Kenyan women have launched a
campaign to collect 1m signatures to lobby MPs to reserve 50 seats in
parliament for women before elections later this year. Some 10,000 women attended a rally in the
capital, Nairobi, calling for the Affirmative Action Bill to be passed. Health Minister Charity Ngliu said that
women face bias and financial drawbacks when seeking nomination, but they
were ready to take up positions. In the current parliament, only 18 out of
224 MPs are women. 'Good enough' The launch coincided with a new poll -
conducted by Infotrak Research and Consulting, Harris Interactive Global and
the Centre for Multi-Party Democracy - that suggests that 51% of Kenyans are
ready to elect a woman as president.
Ms Ngilu is the only woman
to have vied for Kenya's presidency in the past, but at the rally she said
women faced an uphill struggle in Kenyan politics. "It's very difficult for women to
really campaign and win seats, not because they do not qualify, not because
they are not good," she told the BBC's Network Africa programme. "(There is) the obvious bias that
comes from the communities, and women do not have enough money to mount a
successful campaign." According to the bill before parliament,
female seats would be elected through special ballots among women's interest
groups. Kenyans are going to the polls in December
to elect a new president and parliament. Deep divisions The same poll shows that if the election
were held now, incumbent President Mwai Kibaki - who came to power with a
landslide victory in 2002 - would win 42% of the vote. But he would face a run-off that could
sharply divide the country because of a failure to meet a constitutional requirement
to get 25% of the votes in at least five provinces. The BBC's Karen Allen in Nairobi says there
are deep divisions within the opposition bloc, known as ODM Kenya, which has
still to select its presidential candidate. If Raila Odinga, whom voters seem to
favour, wins the ODM ticket, he could present a serious challenge to
President Kibaki, forcing a second round. Our correspondent says the next few months
are likely to see shifting alliances in a political landscape which continues
to be tinged with ethnic rivalries. |
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(There
is) the obvious bias that comes from the communities, and women do not have
enough money to mount a successful campaign 
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