Of the men-dominated Azimio, Kenya Kwanza legal teams
Azimio la Umoja Presidential candidate Raila Odinga (second left) with his deputy Martha Karua (left) and other party members with their lawyers at Milimani Law Courts, Nairobi when they presented their petition on August 22, 2022.
What you need to know:
- Men dominate the legal teams for Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party and Kenya Kwanza Alliance that will battle out at the Supreme Court in the petition to nullify Dr William Ruto's win in the August 9 Presidential election.
- Presently, 40 per cent of the 20,000 LSK members are women, and hence “there is no doubt that there are qualified women lawyer.
Legal teams for Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party and Kenya Kwanza Alliance are men-dominated.
The teams will battle out at the Supreme Court in the petition to nullify the win of Dr William Ruto in the August 9 Presidential election.
Of the 43 lawyers representing Azimio, 14 are women.
They include Julie Soweto, Velma Maumo, Dr Judy Oloo, Celestine Opiyo, Barbara Malowa, Addah Awiti, and Plister Omondi.
In 2017, Ms Soweto represented Njonjo Mue of International commission of Jurists (ICJ) and Khelef Khalifa of Muslims for Human Rights at the Supreme Court. They had sought revocation of the results of the repeat presidential election, which Raila Odinga had boycotted.
The court, however, dismissed the petition and upheld re-election of Uhuru Kenyatta.
Others are Winnie Makaba, Jerusah Michael, Deborass Bubi, Naila Salim, Tabitha Wathuti, Jacqueline Njoroge and Speranza Nywaira.
The 54-member legal team for Kenya Kwanza has 10 women.
They are Dr Linda Musumba, Melissa Ngania, Caroline Jerono and Lilian Nyaga. They also include Monica Nyuguto, WinRose Njuguna, Soipan Tuya, Gladys Shollei, Jane Muhia and Rosemary Wanjiku.
Dr Musumba is a law scholar and a founding dean of the School of Law at Kenyatta University. She was one of the amicus curiae in the Building Bridges Initiative case at the Supreme Court.
None of the parties have a woman on their lead teams.
Furthermore, none of the women on either list is a senior counsel. Data from Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and gazette notices of the senior counsels reveal that of the 63 senior counsels in Kenya, 10 are women.
LSK President Eric Theuri told Nation.Africa that parties seeking legal representation are free to select their advocates regardless of gender.
Presently, he said, 40 per cent of the 20,000 LSK members are women, and hence “there is no doubt that there are qualified women lawyers.”
He said parties choose their advocates based on the capability to deliver the “best results.”
“The question of who represents a party is a constitutional choice and preference for a party. There is no requirement for gender,” he said.
