Women across the country on Thursday suffered a setback after the National Assembly failed to pass a Bill aimed at increasing their representation.
For the second time, the House shot down the Two-Third Gender Laws (Amendment Bill) 2015 meaning that the proposed law would not be adopted.
The Bill, which required support from 233 legislators to pass was only voted for by 178 MPs with 16 members voting against it while five failed to indicate their stand despite calls from various leaders urging MPs to support the bill.
During the voting exercise, reports indicate that close to 20 male lawmakers walked out of the House as a show of protest against the contentious Bill.
This was the second time the proposed amendment was falling short of the required support. Last week, 195 members voted for the bill but the support was still not enough, as the Constitution dictates that such a Bill can only be passed by two-thirds of the Assembly.
Read Also: MPs Disappoint Uhuru and Raila
The proposed law sponsored by Majority Leader in the National Assembly Aden Duale, had been backed by both President Uhuru Kenyatta and Opposition leader Raila Odinga who called upon legislators across the political divide to vote in the bill's favour.
Odinga had even attended the polling session, to witness the proceedings and show solidarity with like minded lawmakers.
If the Gender Bill was enacted, it would have made it unconstitutional for a particular gender to have more than two thirds representation in Parliament. This means that more women would have to be nominated for them to reach the required number for the House to be legally constituted.
It would also create a two-term limit for the nominees to prevent perrenial members benefiting from the allowance.
