Religious leaders have accused Parliament of casualness and impunity following the failure by senators to pass the Bill to guarantee gender equality.
They also termed as an embarrassment, suggestions by National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi and Attorney General Githu Muigai that Parliament cannot be dissolved even if they do not pass the Bill before August 27 deadline.
The leaders, drawn from the National Council of Churches of Kenya, Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, the evangelicals, the Adventists and the African Instituted churches said Parliament must put its house in order.
“This is a statement of the impunity of the predominantly male dominated Parliament that appears not to have understood that the Constitution does not provide us with choice on matters that are policy (like the Gender Bill),” said NCCK General Secretary Rev Canon Karanja in a press conference on Wednesday.
“It is also a statement about the casualness of how our elected leaders take a matter that is so grave,” he added.
The Bill is supposed to give life to the constitutional provision that not more than two thirds of any elected and appointed office, shall be of the same gender.
A government-sponsored Bill tabled by National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale failed twice in the House when it failed to garner the support of the required 233 MPs.
On Wednesday, the Senate also failed to marshal enough numbers and the vote on the Bill was deferred to a later date.
The Bill by nominated Senator Judith Sijeny, among other things, proposes to compel political parties to adhere to the rule in their nomination lists.
“It (the Bill) is our last hope. We are not in a competition. We are asking for Parliament to pass this Bill because it is the right thing to do,” Gender Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki told Nation in an interview on Tuesday.
The rule was supposed to be implemented by August 27 last year following a Supreme Court ruling, but Parliament extended the deadline by a year.
“We note of the fact that the August 27, 2016 cannot be extended for enactment of this law. Someone can now go to court and ask it to invoke the provisions of the Constitution for the Houses to be found to be in breach and actually, dissolved,” the religious leaders warned.
Last week, the National Assembly Speaker and the AG said Parliament would not be dissolved for failure to pass the law.
They argued that the Houses cannot be dissolved because the rule will apply in the next Parliament.
But the religious leaders dismissed the argument, saying the rule is a constitutional one that must not be breached.
“They (Parliament and AG) should not take comfort even in legal loopholes that may be available to protect the current Parliament. The passage of the two-thirds gender rule is a national responsibility and calling, and not a legal convenience,” said Rev Karanja.
In the statement read by Rev Karanja and Sister Mary Magdalene Katua of the KCCB, the leaders proposed a stringent punishment for parties that flout the rules.