Chief Justice Emeritus David Maraga has promised that his government will have 50 per cent of women in leadership positions.
Speaking on Wednesday, the Presidential hopeful relayed that this was to ensure that his administration was balanced, incorporating the strengths of both men and women for better service delivery.
He said that it would also be an effective way to implement the Constitutional guidelines to not have over two-thirds of one gender in these positions.
"Men excel this way, women excel in other ways. If you put them together, you have a balanced government," Maraga said, adding, "When we did away with the old constitution, we introduced this new one, where there are things that were supposed to be implemented quickly."
"One of those things was that there should not be more than two-thirds of one gender in any institution. When I read through them, I found that there had been no reason whatsoever why they had not passed the law. I recommended the dissolution of Parliament."
He recalls receiving backlash from politicians when he recommended the dissolution of Parliament to President Uhuru Kenyatta.
As such, he has vowed to ensure that all leadership positions in his government will include a man and a woman for easy implementation of the 50 per cent promise to women.
"In our government, we have already launched our party. If it's the chairperson position, we will have a man and a woman; if it's a secretary general position, we will do the same. It will be a co-leadership government so that we give leaders a chance," he explained.
He highlighted that women tended to be more competent in matters of health and education, and therefore, if given an opportunity, they would excel.
Maraga is far from the only Presidential aspirant to make this promise to women. In fact, the promise of 50 per cent women in cabinet was one of the central campaign promises by President William Ruto ahead of the 2022 General Elections.
Shortly after winning the election, he released his first cabinet picks on September 27, which featured only seven women of the 22-member cabinet.
Several reshuffles later, the cabinet is yet to be gender-balanced.
