Embakasi East MP Babu Owino has publicly declared his love and support for women in leadership after he announced his supported for the Gender Bill noting that men must accept women as equals in the society.
The new legislation proposed by MP Aden Duale provides for special seats to be created if parliamentary elections fail to achieve the required numbers, with female candidates nominated to fill them.
Babu Owino says that for many years, women have been treated an afterthought in public affairs by men not just in Kenya but on the African continent as a whole.
“While first world nations have made tremendous progress on the inclusion of women, Kenya still lags far behind. We have seen women in the highest echelons of leadership in Europe (the current President of Croatia is a lady & the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is a also lady), in the Americas (the immediate former Presidents of Brazil and Argentina were both ladies) and even in India (the late Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister) & Pakistan (the late Benazir Bhutto was also Prime Minister) while Kenya still struggles to meet the globally accepted two third gender rule.” reads post in part
Babu Owino also highlighted that Kenya’s neighbors have embraced women leadership have since accepted this reality. Stating examples he says that Ethiopia elected a woman as President, Tanzania’s Deputy President is also a lady while further abroad, Libera had a lady President for multiple terms.
“The inclusion of women in leadership is an idea whose time has come. This concept was approved by the Kenyan people when they passed the Constitution of Kenya 2010 that laid out this basic principle.
As Parliamentarians, we are merely seeking means of implementing the wishes of Kenyans because we are required to do so by the Constitution.” he added
Defending his reasons to support the Bill, Babu Owino said that the Gender Bill is not about adding seats or giving freebies to undeserving individuals.
“The spirit of this bill that I fully support is about women getting a fair, competitive chance at representing their own issues at the highest level of decision-making in the country.” he said
“In the past, several gender issues were neglected by Parliaments dominated by men. If it were not for the invaluable input of women MPs, we would never have realized certain gains such as the Sexual Offences Bill and funding providing for sanitary assistance for girls so as to keep them in school.”reads post
Appreciating women’s achievements in the country, Babu Owino said that It is because of women’s input that we have managed to progress our society to where it is today.
The Member of Parliament also challenged Kenyans saying that the remainder of this journey is for all Kenyans, from all ethnicities, all religions and both genders.
Today I stood with our mothers,our sisters,our daughters and our wives at the National Assembly.#womenPower.#GenderBill pic.twitter.com/hENz7IwqoJ
— Babu Owino (@Babu_Owino) November 21, 2018