Members of Parliament may become the biggest casualties of the 2010 Constitution if Chief Justice @dkmaraga commences the process of dissolving Parliament following its failure to enact the two-thirds gender rule.
via @PeopleDailyKe

This comes in the wake of a decision by the @lawsocietykenya President Nelson @NelsonHavi to move to the Supreme Court seeking to have the @NAssemblyKE dissolved for failing to enact the rule.

Article 81 (b) of the Constitution reads that not more than two-thirds of the members of elective public bodies shall be of the same gender.

Yesterday, MPs were considering three options to avert the possibility of Parliament being dissolved, a move which will render the 349 elected and nominated legislators jobless. Option 1 is to invoke Art. 261 (b) to extend the period within which to enact the contentious clause.

Option 2, according to the Vice-Chair of JLAC, Otiende Amollo, is to top up the number of members of the disadvantaged gender in various public bodies to meet the two-thirds threshold.

Option 3, which is considered the worst-case scenario, is for the country to hold a referendum to remove the contentious clause altogether.

Speaking on Tuesday, @SpeakerJBMuturi Muturi captured the magnitude of the dissolution possibility warning that the National Assembly had squandered the opportunity to enact the clause.

He warned MPs that they may be forced into early elections should the CJ advise the President to dissolve Parliament. Speaker said the possibility of the CJ advising the President to dissolve Parliament is real, making the twelfth Parliament the shortest in the country’s history.

Minority Leader @MbadiHon, however, downplayed the dissolution fears, saying such action would be too drastic. Parliament has attempted to pass the Bill for a record five times without success.

By dissolving Parliament, it will imply that all the 84 Bills passed the 12th Parliament will be invalidated, which according to Otiende will be throwing the country into a constitutional crisis.

The Chair of the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee, @JeremiahKioni warned that dissolving Parliament will be a recipe for a serious crisis.

JLAC Chair Muturi Kigano on his part accused the CJ of being an impediment in the implementation of the gender rule and wondered why he would be the same one to advise for its dissolution.

@OAmollo who was a member of the c'tee of experts who drafted the contentious piece of legislation in the 2010 Constitution, said there is need for the matter to be dispensed now adding that dissolving Parliament will not help since the new Parliament will face similar challenges

According to Amolo, the only way the country can escape the juggernaut is by deleting the contentious article through a referendum.

He said by dissolving the Parliament the country will not be solving the impasse adding that in the event of fresh elections, there was a likelihood for Kenyans electing even more men than women.

Homa Bay Town MP Peter @gpdkaluma warned that nobody can have the audacity to recommend the dissolution of Parliament, saying as politicians they will not allow it.