By Capital FM Kenya
Chief Justice David Maraga on Monday asked President Uhuru Kenyatta to dissolve Parliament over the continued violation of the two thirds gender representation rule.
Maraga said Parliament’s failure to enact a law to operationalize the constitutional provision amount to an act of impunity.
In his advice, Maraga said he is acting following six petitions filed in pursuant to Article 261 (7) of the Constitution.
“It is incontestable that Parliament has not complied with the High Court order, As such, for over 9 year now, Parliament has not enacted the legislation required to implement the two-thirds gender rule which, as the court of Appeal observed in its said judgement, it is clear testimony of Parliament’s lackadaisical attitude and conduct in this matter. Consequently, it is my constitutional duty to advise Your Excellency to dissolve Parliament under Article 261 (7) of the Constitution.”
The Chief Justice said he was in receipt of five petitions asking him to render the advice on dissolution of Parliament.
“There is no doubt that the dissolution of Parliament will cause inconvenience and even economic hardship. The fact that Kenya is in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic only exacerbated the potential impact of the decision. Yet that is a clear result Kenyans desired for Parliament’s failure to enact legislation they deemed necessary . We must never forget that more often than not, there is no gain with pain,” said the Chief Justice.
He said the petitions received between April 2019 and July 2020 had been consolidated into one.
The petitions are based on the failure by lawmakers to comply with four court orders compelling Parliament to enact the legislation despite a Supreme Court order issue in 2015.