End Gender Bill crunch

The National Assembly has, for the fourth time, failed to pass the two-thirds gender rule bill, leaving the legal requirement in limbo and setting up the country for a veritable constitutional crisis.

That the bill has floundered again despite intense lobbying and behind-the-scenes mobilisation by the national political elite, including President Uhuru Kenyatta, is an emphatic statement that the MPs are determined to run it aground.

Yesterday, like in the previous attempts, the bill came unstuck for lack of quorum.

The Constitution is clear that no gender shall be more than two-thirds in elective and appointive posts in the public service.

Yet the National Assembly has only 76 women out of 349 MPs, falling short by 39, while the Senate has 21 women out of 67 senators, and so requires at least three more.

Parliament does not have a choice but to pass the bill. By deliberately staying away during the debate, the MPs are merely hiding their heads in the sand to shirk an incontestable reality.

Whether or not the country is better off with the gender law or not is beside the point. The fact is, the Constitution is unambiguous about it and Parliament risks dissolution for the breach.

Opponents say it will only punish taxpayers with a heavier wage burden and that it is unclear how nominations should be conducted.

Their views should be taken into account. However, to prevent a constitutional crisis, it falls upon the whips in the main political parties to rally their members behind the bill.

It would not be in their interest to go into another election prematurely.

The President and other top political leaders must rise up to the occasion and prove their mettle by persuading the MPs to get this task out of the way the soonest possible.