By Natasha Korir
President William Ruto is keen on delivering his promise to grant equal opportunities for women in democratic governance.
The appointment of Dorcas Oduor as the next Attorney General guarantees the president’s commitment to ensuring women’s participation in government.
This win-win move by President Ruto not only affirms his undertaking to ensure inclusivity but also strengthens his focus on creating a broad-based government.
“In our plan, we recognise the need to change the prevailing situation where female participation in key economic sectors remained minimal,” Ruto previously said.
During the International Women’s Day celebrations earlier in the year, he emphasized the implementation of the principle that “not more than two-thirds of members of elective or appointive bodies shall be of the same gender”.
He pointed out that despite women being drivers of change and agents of democratic governance, their active participation in politics is limited.
The President gave an undertaking to make changes.
“In appointive positions in the public sector, I have committed to raising the number of women through greater vigilance and attention to quotas in the ministries, departments and agencies,” Ruto said.
Evidently, the measures to enhance women’s participation in governance and political leadership have progressively yielded results.
With key examples being the recent approval of Cabinet secretaries by the National Assembly including Rebecca Miano (Tourism and Wildlife), Debora Barasa (Health) and Alice Wahome (Land and Urban Development).
Additionally, the National Assembly has approved Soipan Tuya as Cabinet secretary of Defense and Margaret Ndung’u for ICT.
More to this, there was a rise in the number of elected governors in the last elections from three to seven including Fatuma Achani (Kwale), Wavinya Ndeti (Machakos) and Ann Waiguru (Kirinyaga).
Other elected women governors include Cecily Mbarire (Embu), Kawira Mwamgaza (Meru), Susan Kihika (Nakuru), and Gladys Wanga (Homa Bay).