MP's fresh bid to achieve gender equity in Parliament welcome

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The two-thirds gender rule stands out as Kenya's most embarrassing unfulfilled constitutional promise. The Supreme Court set August 27, 2015, as the deadline for Parliament to enact necessary legislation, but the deadline came and went, just like many other government promises before an election.

Ten years later, this requirement looks like a decorative clause in a constitution that Kenya displays proudly but honours selectively. Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot deserves credit for trying again. His Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill No. 2 of 2025 proposes a clear mechanism; that whenever either House fails to meet the gender threshold, additional nominated members shall be appointed to enforce compliance. After a decade of legislative cowardice, that is at least a serious attempt.

The broad support the Bill has attracted is encouraging. Civil society is on board. The IEBC has expressed support. Prof Wanjiku Kabira has rightly noted that it transforms the gender rule from a declaratory principle into an enforceable constitutional requirement. The shift from aspiration to obligation is precisely what has been missing.

But Kenyans are wary. They know their Parliament is already bloated beyond what a developing economy can sustainably afford. 

The Parliamentary Budget Office has done the arithmetic, and the numbers are shocking. Each additional MP costs approximately Sh30 million annually, and the full gender top-up could add Sh20 billion to the wage bill every year.

The solution, therefore, must be surgical. Cheruiyot's Bill should be passed, but coupled with a corresponding reduction in other parliamentary seats so that the total number of legislators does not rise. Women must enter Parliament, but not on the backs of taxpayers already ground down by debt and austerity.

Similar efforts have failed before, felled by the very men who were meant to champion them. Kenya will be watching whether Cheruiyot's colleagues have the political spine to do what their predecessors repeatedly refused to do: honour the Constitution.