The gender bill has failed to was differed yesterday after it failed to hit the required number of votes following a request by the leader of Majority Aden Duale where he urged saying that the house did not have enough members to vote the gender equality bill.
In this regard a section of Gusii politicians have now comeout to give their reactions following Hon. Duale’s decision to shelve his Gender Bill.
According to one Steve Arika, who is a Jubilee politician aplauded Duale for taking a bold step to shelve the Bill.
In his statement he said, “The Bill was not to sail through because several MPs had planned to boycott the voting. Duale made a right decision shelve the Bill which many of the lawmakers were set to vote against.”
According to Victor Swanya, a NASA politician claimed that Duale was 100 percent he could not get enough support for his Gender Bill to pass.
In his statement he added saying, “Duale sensed defeat hence arrived at the decision to withdraw the Gender Bill. Lawmakers had hinted at voting against the Bill which seeks to add more ‘flower girls’ at the National Assembly.”
Rachael Otundo, a Kisii based politician condemned a section of MPs who publicly opposed the Gender Bill prompting Duale to withdraw it before voting.
“Women are also human beings. The male MPs should stop seeing themselves to be more superior than women. It is high time women to be given equal opportunities in leadership in this country,” she noted.
Duale’s requested was however not refuted by all, Minority Leader John Mbadi supported the request, saying it would give MPs time to lobby their colleagues to back the bill.
Minority Whip Junet Mohamed also asked the Speaker Muturi to suspend the debate for 10 minutes to allow him and others time to lobby their colleagues outside to enter the House.
His request revealed that while the House had failed to raise the required quorum, some MPs, who were within the precincts of Parliament, had deliberately snubbed the debate and the vote.
Homa Bay County Woman Representative Gladys Wanga supported Mr Junet and asked the speaker to order a headcount in the House to establish the number of MPs present.
At the beginning of the debate, 212 members were in the chambers. A few minutes into the debate, the number dropped to 207.
In the end, Mr Muturi ruled that the bill be stood down for reply and voting by the House Business Committee (HBC).
The committee on will meet on Tuesday to determine when the matter will be considered again.