Renewed efforts for enactment of Article 100 Legislation

The Commission has kicked off a series of multisectoral consultations forums with the aim of enacting legislation on Article 100 of the Constitution of Kenya. Article 100 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 requires parliament to enact a law to promote the representation in parliament of women, persons with disabilities, youth, ethnic minorities and other minority and marginalized groups.

The forums come in the wake of the publishing of the Representation of Special Interest Groups Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019 by the National Assembly. In the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of Kenya 2010, Article 100 legislation has a time frame of five years. To date, the Article remains unlegislated despite the five-year period given by the Constitution and the one-year extension given by Parliament having lapsed.

Between 2016 and 2019, the Commission embarked on dedicated efforts to facilitate the development of a legislation for promotion of representation of marginalized groups as envisioned in the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of Kenya.

Recently the Commission made a presentation to the Building Bridges Taskforce and various committees of Parliament to consider reviewing the electoral architecture to create National and County electoral colleges to safeguard the electoral positions of PWDs, minorities, youth among others. The rationale is that the first-past-post system rarely guarantees representation of special interest groups (SIGs)

Further the Commission suggested separation of elections for special seats (proportional representation) from the other elections. The Commission has published a handbook for legislators on equality and inclusion in law making process. The guide provides legislators with checklists and minimum indicators to consider when formulating laws, reviewing bills or program, and in debating about matters of law to ensure consistent consideration of principles of equality and inclusion.

The handbook is one of nine other guidebooks that NGEC has published to support county governments, national government and private sector to comply with principles of equality, inclusion and freedom from discrimination. Additionally, in the financial year 2019/2020 the Commission plans to audit county governments on representation of SIGs at the executive, legislature and in employment.