Chief Justice David Maraga has advised President Uhuru to dissolve parliament over its failure to enact the two thirds gender rule, which he has pointed out that parliament has failed to enact for 9 yeas now, showing its lackadaisical attitude and conduct in this matter. In an advisory dated 21st September, CJ Maraga said so far he has six petitions seeking that he advises the President to dissolve parliament.
He said the petitions are based on the fact that despite four Court orders compelling parliament to enact the legislation required to implement the two thirds gender rule in accordance with Article 27(3) together with Article 81(b) and 100 of the constitution, parliament has failed and refused. He said objections from speakers of both houses regarding the same were that the petitions were incompetent and that the Attorney General didn’t file any response to the petitions.
Maraga has noted that the dissolution of Parliament will cause inconvenience and economic hardship given that Kenya is grappling with the Coronavirus pandemic, but the pain shouldn’t be used as cover, “We must never forget that more often than not, there is no gain without pain….The carefully designed enforcement mechanism of dissolution of Parliament under Article 261(7) irrespective of its consequences is clearly the radical remedy Kenyans desired to incentivize the political elites to adhere to and fully operationalize the transformational agenda of the Constitution they bequeathed to themselves in 2010.”
He added that Kenyans understood the possible cultural resistance to the transformational ideas on gender equality the Constitution would face. “In the circumstances, let us endure pain, if we must, if only to remind ourselves, as a country, that choices, and particularly choices on Constitutional obligations, have consequences,” he said.