[m2c] Kenyan Women Push Back Against Campaign Violence

[usman x]

http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm?aid=3265

Kenyan Women Push Back Against Campaign Violence

By Henry Neondo
WeNews correspondent
Aug 3, 2007

NAIROBI, Kenya (WOMENSENEWS)--It is Saturday morning in the Busia
District of Western Kenya and Josephine Wandago, backed by a row of
provincial administrators, is speaking out.

Wandago, program officer with the Nairobi-based League of Kenya Women
Voters, faces over 1,500 villagers, young and old, to argue against the
cultural prejudices that hamper female politicians.

"Leadership is not a function of gender," Wandago says. "It is based on
one's track record in contributing to the welfare of the people and
community development."

In December Kenyans will elect a new president, 210 members of
parliament and over 3,000 civic leaders.

This time, more women than ever are showing an interest in running, in
part because of nationwide campaigns orchestrated by a wide spectrum of
organizations aimed at increasing women's political presence and power.

By early May, 500 women--almost all non-incumbents--were eyeing
parliament seats, according to the Kenya Women's Political Caucus and
other human rights groups in Nairobi.

But Kenyan elections have been riddled by political violence since the
end of single party rule in 1992, which makes campaigning--daunting for
other reasons as well--particularly tough for women.

Wandago says that provincial administrators, who have a history of
siding with incumbents, hold the key to peaceful and lawful elections.

"They could decide to prevent violence during campaigns and make it
easier for a prospective candidate from the security they provide," she
says, "or decide to turn a blind eye and allow violent goons to have a
field day and disorganize a candidate's campaigns."

In nine general elections since independence in 1963 few women have
gotten past the party nomination stage to actual seats in government.

Women hold only 9 percent of the 222 seats in parliament and many here
say that can in part be explained by the violent attacks among rival
politicians.

Hooligans and Disruptions

Violence is a generalized problem for Kenya, which in July witnessed a
wave of murders in Nairobi that drew international headlines.

Wandago says some of the country's electoral violence is aimed at
intimidating women. She says incumbents have been known to hire
hooligans or direct regional security units to disrupt education and
awareness sessions aimed at women.

In previous elections female politicians and female crowds have been
assaulted by male gangs.

When a woman declares an interest in political leadership, says
Jacqueline Adhiambo Oduol, a candidate for the Alego-Usonga
parliamentary seat in Western Kenya, she must often endure violence and
name-calling, often in the presence of her husband, son or brother and
intended to embarrass these relatives.

"The first thing is to make her look ridiculous and trivial. She is
just a woman who would be better invisible," says Oduol, a lecturer at
the United States International University-Africa in Nairobi.

"She is girded with shame and guilt. People wonder who will be taking
care of her husband and children while she is attending to her
political roles. They try to make her appear insensitive to her
family's needs; never mind her qualities and capacities," she says.

Changing the Rules

Leading gender activists, female university dons and former female
members of parliament and civic leaders are now trying to change those
negative conditions.

In January they began touring the country's colleges and markets to
engage people in the push to help nominate more women. They are urging
campaigns to stop politicians from bribing voters with salt or a
kilogram of sugar and hiring goons to heckle and beat opponents.

The nongovernmental Institute for Education in Democracy and about 30
other local groups are arranging tours across the country to promote
ballot secrecy in marginalized districts where men frequently demand
their wives' voting cards and cast ballots on their behalf.

Kenya's constitution allows every native-born citizen to vie for any
public office without hindrance. However, Kenya does not set aside a
quota of seats in parliament seats for women and an effort to do so
this year lost steam before it even came to a vote. Nor does Kenya
allow state financing of political parties.

By contrast, neighboring Rwanda and Tanzania have tied state financing
to party quotas for female candidates. Parliament member Ruth Oniang'o
says this has driven up women's party leadership and resulted in higher
numbers of female parliamentarians.

Compared to Kenya's 9 percent, Burundi's parliament is 32 percent
female; Tanzania and Uganda both have 30 percent; and Rwanda has 49
percent, the highest in the world.

The Kenyan government this week issued a short-lived proposal to set
aside 50 parliament seats for women, but opposition leaders dismissed
it as a ploy to gain female votes. It is not likely to be implemented
soon, and some members of parliament are pushing to place the idea
before Kenya's voters as a constitutional amendment.

Working Against Women's Interests

"Being in the party is very important," says Ida Odinga, chair of the
League of Kenya Women Voters, who is married to a leading opposition
member of parliament and presidential candidate, Raila Odinga. "To
fight and win elections, you need to understand and be understood in
the party. Most women sit aside on party matters and only show up
during elections expecting material and other forms of support from
men. It works against them."

Pamela Baraza, a journalist and an aspirant for the Mumias parliament
seat, raises another major barrier facing female politicians.

"Most Kenyan communities still regard women as property. This is
perpetuated by exclusion of women from inheriting their father's
property and bride-price exchanges."

Voters, she says, are not inclined to confer leadership on people who
are owned.

As a result few rural people--including rural women--take local female
candidates seriously.

The Nairobi-based Center for Multiparty Democracy and the League of
Kenya Women Voters are both trying to tackle these issues.

The center hosts a Web site designed to match political parties with
qualified female candidates, whose resumes, photos, visions, missions
and agendas are displayed. To be included, a woman has to demonstrate
she can run a campaign and have prior political campaign experience and
the ability to articulate issues affecting the constituency.

The groups also train female political hopefuls on media engagement
with sessions on handling press interviews, writing advertisements and
using posters, billboards and handbills. The cost of each training
workshop ranges from $5,000 to $20,000; enough to rent a hall, produce
training materials and provide transportation and facilitators. The
sessions usually attract dozens of female candidates, said Pamela
Mburia, executive director of the Nairobi-based Association of Media
Women in Kenya.

The League of Kenya Women Voters is working with rural female voters
through workshops, radio shows and public meetings to explain the
voting process and methods for evaluating a candidate.

The group has also bought 30 minutes of air time twice a week on
Kenya's leading public television station, the Kenya Broadcasting
Corporation, to promote respect for female candidates and voting rights.

One of the ads runs in the print and broadcast media every Sunday,
urging women to only surrender their ballot on election day and to the
ballot box.

"Your vote is your voice," the ads say.

[Henry Neondo is a journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya.]

For more information:

Center for Multiparty Democracy, Political Power to the Women is Power
to the People: - http://www.cmd.or.ke/default2.php?active_page_id=425

The League of Kenya Women Voters: - http://www.leaguekenya.org/

Kenya Women's Political Caucus: - http://www.kwpcaucus.org/

Copyright 2007 Women's eNews. 

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