Events that shaped Kenya's gender agenda in 2020

As curtains fall on 2020, the push for gender equality in Kenya was shaped by five major events which highlighted the loopholes in addressing gender issues in the country.

The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic in Kenya, the much debated county revenue sharing formula and constitutional amendments proposed in Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) brought to light the blindness in resolving matters touching on women.

Gender principle

Historic advisory by outgoing Chief Justice David Maraga to President Uhuru Kenyatta to dissolve Parliament for failure to pass a law on two-thirds gender principle and landmark , equally energised the push to demand for government's accountability in protecting and upholding the rights of women.

With Covid-19, came the rise in SGBV and teenage pregnancies forcing the President to call for an investigation into the underlying factors while in the meantime asking the Kenyans to protect the family unit.

“If the family is under attack .The State is under attack," said Mr Kenyatta during his State address on phased reopening of the economy on July 6 when he ordered National Crime Research  Centre (NCRC) to conduct the probe.

The centre established a 92.2 per cent jump in SGBV cases between January and June with males in 18-33 age bracket being main perpetrators of the vice.

It identified alcohol, drug and substance abuse alongside poverty and domestic disputes as some driving forces. Also retrogressive cultural practices especially religious beliefs, male dominance, poor parenting, identity crisis among youth and inadequate support system.

Teenage pregnancies

Data on pregnancies among the 10-19 year olds released in June from Kenya Health Information Management System (KHIS) ticked an issue that has remained stubbornly prevalent for more than a decade.

A comparative analysis of statistics released by government agencies in 2008 and 2020 show the unchanged status of teenage pregnancies.

The percentage of teenagers who have begun childbearing declined from 23 per cent in the 2003 to 18 per cent in the 2008, as indicated in the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008-09.

Since then, however, no drop in prevalence has been recorded according to National Council on Population and Development (NCPD) survey findings that covered 2016-2019.

KHIS data showing a national statistic of 151,433 teenage pregnancies for January-May, 2020, against a rather high number of 175,488 recorded in the same period in 2019,became public in the midst of anecdotal outcry of increased teenage pregnancies attributed to more exposure to either sexual violence perpetrators or inclination to engage in sexual relationships, as schools remained closed.

Although the Ministry of Health officials held that the data gave a misconstrued picture of teenage pregnancies since it presented multiple visits of the expectant teens and was unlikely to include girls who became pregnant between March and May, they are unaware of their status till after third month; the fact even one teenager is pregnant is a call for action.

While NCRC honoured the President's directive having been given 30 days to complete it's work, a multi-agency team was simultaneously formed to reinforce anti-SGBV efforts.

It comprised the ministries of Public Service and Gender, Interior, Health, ICT, Education, Labour and Social Services and East Africa Community and Regional Development.

Others were Commission on Administrative of Justice, Director of Public Prosecution,  Attorney General, Inspector General, NGOs and development partners.

“It is a comprehensive approach to tackle this problem because if left unattended, it is likely to wipe away a lot of development gains,” said Cabinet Secretary for Public Service and Gender Prof Margaret Kobia in reference to the multi-agency in an earlier interview.

She added that the multi-agency is a long-term strategy to ending SGBV in Kenya.

Job losses

In economic front, women suffered more than men.

That 51.2 per cent women lost employment having been dropped off from hospitality, retail and manufacturing sectors which were worst affected, found a Survey on Socio Economic Impact of Covid-19 on Households by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, covering March- May,2020.

Despite the disproportionate economic effect on women, the government granted the Covid-19 stipend uniformly.

The financial support given stood at seven per cent for both gender as established by An Assessment of the Gendered  Effects  of the Covid-19 Pandemic on  Households(2020) by UN Women et al.

Revenue sharing

It took 11 sittings before the Senate adopted the third base county revenue sharing formula paving way for distribution of funds based on population index  at 18 per cent, health (17 per cent), agriculture (10 per cent), urban services (5 per cent), roads (8 per cent), poverty (14 per cent), basic share (20 per cent) and land area (8 per cent).

While amount of money going to the counties account for progressive development of women as health, roads and agriculture, are especially crucial to lifting them out of poverty, their voices were almost silent in the 12-member Senate committee that finally sealed consensus for the chamber's approval of the formula.

Only one female senator-Susan Kihika-made it to the committee although there are three elected senators and 18 nominated.

Dissolution of Parliament

On September 21,outgoing Chief Justice David Maraga made history when he advised the President to dissolve Parliament for failing to enact a law to actualise Article 27(8) of the Constitution which dictates establishment of legal framework and measures to ensure “no more than two-thirds of the members of elective or appointive bodies are of the same gender."

Possibility of Mr Kenyatta acting on the advisory was however thwarted when High Court suspended implementation of the advisory following an opposing petition filed by two citizens- Leina Konchella and Mohsen Abdul Munasar.

Thereafter, other petitioners including National Assembly, Senate, Attorney General, Thirdway Alliance party, Mathare MP Anthony Tom Oluoch and lawyer Adrian Kamotho Njenga, joined the bandwagon, some in protest, others in support of the advisory.

Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu, later appointed a five-judge bench constituting of  Justices Lydia Achode, George Odunga, James Makau, Anthony Ndungu and Pauline Nyamweya to handle the case and Kenyans await their verdict.

BBI reforms

With the launch of BBI, came the half-promise of reforms in gender representation in political leadership.

To Senate, the constitutional amendments provided in the report to which Kenyans would vote on should all pre-requisites for referendum be met; guarantee an equal female-male representation as each county will have to elect two senators of opposite gender.

But in National Assembly, scrapped are positions of Women County Representatives. Neither will there be an affirmative consideration as the 360 Members of Parliament (MPs) are all to be elected in the fresh proposed house composition, although political parties are to ensure lists of candidates adhere to two-thirds gender principle lest Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), rejects them.

The worry of women missing out in the Executive still lingers on as clause on how new positions of Prime Ministers and the two deputies will be shared is absent.

Historic ruling

The High Court ruling on December 11 relating to SGBV crimes committed during the 2007/8 post-election violence reignited momentum for holding the government accountable to serving justice to women and men who suffered from the crimes.

While Judge Weldon Korir found the State to have violated the constitutional rights of the four-all female-out of the eight(six women and two men) survivors who filed the petition in 2013,consequent to awarding them Sh4 million each; the mental or physical wounds of at least 900 other survivors whose cases were captured by  Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence would be fresh from lack of justice.

In making the virtual ruling, Judge  Korir found the State at fault in failure to conduct independent and effective investigations and prosecutions of SGBV-related crimes committed at the time.

This, he said “is a violation of the positive obligation on the Kenyan State to investigate and prosecute violations of the rights to life, the prohibition of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, and the security of the person.”

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