Women parliamentary aspirants in the 2007 General Election decry vicious tactics used by male counterparts
MANY women parliamentary aspirants were defeated in the last general elections since their male counterparts went to seek help to the witchdoctors, a recent women workshop was told.The workshop was held at the Alliance Narumoru River Lodge in Nyeri district and was organized by the Center of Multi-party Democracy. Over 50 women participants who are mostly parliamentary losers in the last General Elections and who were drawn from all over the country said that dirty and nasty tricks by their male counterparts cost them parliamentary seats.
“I personally I was defeated because my male counterpart went to seek help from the witchdoctors. This cost me the seat which I knew I had won.” said one participant from Nyanza province who sought anonymity.
It also emerged that most of the women were rigged out during the nominations and death threats to intimidate them followed later.
Aspirants from the North Eastern province complained that their cultural background affected them most since their tribes do not believe women can lead them. Some said that their political rivals bought guns for their supporters in order to intimidate them on the elections day.
Another aspirant from Western province said her clothes were torn apart while she was campaigning during the last days before elections.
The aggrieved were urged to concentrate their efforts on finding a lasting solution to the problems they experienced during the elections
Structural factors such as the educational level, professional experience and level of income were outlined as some of the challenges that contribute to women’s inadequate participation in politics.
Traditional cultures and altitudes which do not support women leadership leading to women’s lack of confidence and legal impediments such as lack of a regulatory framework for political parties were also discussed among the challenges challenges.
Other factors that impede women from running for political office include violence and the patronage based nature politics in the country.
The current parliament has 19 women legislators out of the total 219 Members of Parliament. Among them are seven women ministers and six assistant ministers. The following statistics show women’s representation in various areas of leadership in the country:
| Area of leadership | Percentage representation |
| Judiciary | 38.2 |
| District Officers | 23.8 |
| District Commissioners | 2.9 |
| Deputy Secretaries | 20.6 |
| Ambassadors and High Commissioners | 28.3 |
admin :: Aug.14.2008 :: Gender issues, Kenya Elections :: 1 Comment »
Women have a long way to go if it is only 2.9 per cent representation in the district commissioners.
Women must fight hard.