By Yemi Itodo
To encourage more women participation in active politics, African leaders have been charged to designate some ballots and seats for only women in the Parliament.
Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Kenya and Chairperson of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), Africa Region, Rt. Hon. Justin Muturi, disclosed this stand, after presiding over the first executive committee of the 51st conference in Abuja.
To achieve this, Hon. Muturi advised that other African countries should borrow the system in operation in Kenya, where about 47 seats are permanently reserved for women, representing each of the 47 counties that make up the Kenya National Assembly.
Addressing journalists at the end of the executive session Wednesday night, Hon. Muturi also harped on youth inclusion in the affairs of government in Africa, saying, those were the enduring values of the Commonwealth.
Although, he stressed that the Commonwealth Parliament would not imposed it on any country, due to operational constitution of such nation, but the CPA would impress it on Members State to enshrine it, adding that, “even the United Nations, has not imposed any of its values on one another”.
He said “there is an issue of women representation in parliament in many parts of the world, not just Africa. What we need to do is to encourage people, as many as possible, to participate in electoral politics.
“It has been a big problem for us, especially in Kenya, to get women to participate in politics.
“So, when we meet with our colleagues from the rest of the continent, we try to share their experiences on how to have more women participating in electoral politics.
“We need to look into what we should do to encourage them to come out and participate. Sometimes, we go for affirmative actions”.
Giving the Kenyan example, the Chiarperson of CPA said, “in Kenya, we have 47 seats set aside for women in every county, because we have 47 counties. So that, in every county, there is a seat reserved for women, there is ballot for only women in every county and we also do nomination by political parties which also adds up to the numbers of women.
“We have 349 members of Parliament in the Kenya National Assembly, of those, every county has at least one woman representing it, making it 47 women compulsorily. Then there are other 24 women who won through universal adult suffrage, competing with other contenders from their counties”.
On youth inclusion in government, Hon. Muturi advised that, if they don’t participate in the process of governance, their would be inadvertently electing those leaders that are not good.
“We have held numbers of seminars and conferences with the youths across the continent, where we bring them together to encourage them to participate in their own governance, because, if you don’t participate, don’t blame those that have been elected that they are not good, because, by not participating, you are actually participating in electing the bad ones.
“The youth should come out in their numbers. They are the largest components of the population in Africa and in my country in particular. My call to them is to challenge them to come out, this is their time, they should not wait for tomorrow. Let them come out and participate in electoral politics”, Muturi added.
The executive committee of CPA, on Wednesday, also had in attendance, Speakers of Parliament in other African countries and their representatives, including, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila of Nigeria’s House of Representatives.
