Kitui Women MPs Say they won't support BBI if it’s not pro-women

 By Our Correspondent

Kitui elected women legislators have said that they would keenly scrutinize the final Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report after its release, in order to ensure that it doesn’t water down the gains made so far in empowering women in the country.

Kitui has only two elected women MPs in the National Assembly, that is Kitui south MP Dr. Rachael Kaki Nyamai and Kitui women representative Dr. Irene Kasalu.

Speaking during Mashujaa Day celebrations at Mutomo where they issued cheques worth more than sh. 9 million from the Women Enterprise Fund, the legislators said that posts which had been previously anchored in the constitution 2010 ought to be maintained and more posts for women ought to be created in the BBI report in order to ensure that women enjoy 50/50 opportunities with their male counterparts in the political arena.

Kitui Women Rep Dr. Irene Kasalu on her side said that for Women to support the BBI report, it must be able to fully address their issues like 2/3 gender rule and improve the wellbeing of women.

"We can't afford to lose the posts which had been previously created like the Women Rep and other nomination posts. We would even demand that if the president is a Man, the deputy automatically be a lady and even in the gubernatorial candidature, the same must apply. We should not have a single gender dominate two senior posts," said Dr. Kasalu.

Dr. Kasalu said that women must be given the first priority in the BBI report and if not so, she won’t support the document.

Her counterpart, Kitui South MP Dr. Rachael Kaki Nyamai said that she was confident that president Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga would ensure that the document fully addresses the issues affecting women in the nation before its final release and that more posts would create for women in order to level their male counterparts.

"We support the BBI and we belief that President Uhuru Kenyatta would ensure that the documents protects the gains we have made so far in women empowerment," said Dr. Nyamai.

Dr. Nyamai however called upon President Uhuru Kenyatta to ensure that peace prevails during and after elections, as Kenyan women are not ready to witness violence and bloodshed like what was witnessed in the 2007/2008 post-election violence.

"We urge the president to ensure peace in the country, those people who are power thirst should not be allowed to cause mayhem during elections and spill innocent blood for personal gains. Women are the most affected whenever insecurity occurs, hence we demand that the government be vigilant enough," warned the Kitui south MP.