Two-thirds gender rule: Court suspends Uasin Gishu County Assembly sittings
Members of Uasin Gishu County Assembly during a sitting.
The High Court in Eldoret has issued an interim order suspending all legislative sittings of the Uasin Gishu County Assembly.
The suspension follows an application by an Eldoret-based human rights activist, Kimutai Kirui, who challenged the legality of the assembly's composition after it emerged that it did not meet the gender requirements of the Kenyan constitution.
It is another blow to President William Ruto's ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party and comes a month after the Court of Appeal upheld the nullification of the nomination of nine UDA MCAs on the grounds of irregularities.
Mr Kirui of the Centre Against Torture filed an application under a certificate of urgency before Justice Wananda Anuro on October 3.
Justice Anuro agreed that the petition raises serious constitutional issues and therefore deserved serious attention in the spirit of safeguarding the 2010 Constitution of Kenya.
As a result, Justice Anuro ordered the temporary suspension of all sittings of the assembly pending the hearing and determination of the matter.
"An order is hereby made suspending all official sittings and meetings and all deliberations of the Uasin Gishu County Assembly pending the hearing and determination of this application," Justice Anuro ordered.
Mr Kirui's move followed an earlier court ruling that nullified the nomination of nine MCA candidates nominated by the ruling party, drastically reducing the number of women members in the assembly and thus violating the two-thirds gender rule.
The House currently has 34 members - 27 male and seven female.
There are 30 elected members - three female and 27 male.
Of the 14 MCAs originally nominated, 12 were female and two were male.
The annulment of the nomination of 10 MCAs affected eight women and the two men, leaving four nominated MCAs (all women).
Section 191 of the Constitution states that not more than two-thirds of the members of any county assembly or county executive committee shall be of the same sex.
In practice, the one-third gender rule means that at least 11 of the members should be female.
Mr Kimutai has insisted that the nullification of the nominated MCAs meant that the Assembly was not fully and properly constituted as required by the Constitution.
Gender balance and diversity
Section 191 of the Constitution requires county assemblies to maintain gender balance and diversity.
It states that not more than two-thirds of the members of any county assembly or county executive committee shall be of the same sex.
According to Mr Kirui, the county assembly falls short of the required membership and is, therefore, operating illegally.
The rights activist has insisted that until the assembly is properly constituted, it has no legal mandate to carry out legislative activities.
A month ago, the nine affected MCAs approached the Supreme Court to challenge the nullification, after the High Court and the Court of Appeal upheld it. The matter is pending before the Supreme Court.
The matter of the suspension of the assembly will be mentioned for further directions on October 18.
On September 1, Justice Riech, who presided over the revocation case, effectively dismissed the appeal filed by the nominated MCAs in the High Court.
The MCAs had appealed against a March 15 ruling by the Eldoret Chief Magistrate nullifying their nomination.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Riech agreed with the decision of Chief Magistrate Dennis Mikoyan that the UDA, as well as the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), had relied on a list of MCAs that had been declared null and void by the Political Parties Tribunal.
"The only genuine list of nominated MCAs was the one dated July 27, 2022, and not the one submitted by the UDA on August 24, 2022," the tribunal said while nullifying the nomination.
