Kenya’s cabinet must ensure inclusion of women with disabilities

The Kenya Network of Women and Girls with Disabilities joins compatriots within the disability space in the call to demand that the President of the Republic of Kenya honours the Constitutional requirement that at least five percent of the members of the public in elective and appointive bodies are persons with disabilities. To this end we demand that a woman with a disability be appointed in the president’s new cabinet.

Kenya’s national values and principles as espoused in the Constitution, include principles of equity, social justice and inclusiveness. Yet we note that in the ‘broad -based cabinet,’ no one identifies as a person with a disability. We reiterate that this lack of representation signals a lack of commitment to the full inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities in decision making spaces general. We also reiterate that when persons with disabilities participate in leadership spaces and public life, their voice is heard and reflected in policy decisions.

We specifically speak to and call attention to the further underrepresentation of women with disabilities in these decision-making spaces. For many years, as women with disabilities we have been relegated to speaking from the margins. We remain underrepresented in many aspects of life, our experiences made invisible.

The UN Women statistics show that women with disabilities are severely underrepresented in decision-making. For example, they note that while both women and men with disabilities are underrepresented, evidence from 19 countries in 2017 showed that only 2.3 per cent of women with disabilities, compared to 2.8 per cent of men with disabilities, held positions of legislators, senior officials, or managers. In Kenya’s last elections, for example, not even one woman with a disability was elected as governor or Member of Parliament.

But things do not have to remain this way. We have a precedent. Josephta Mukobe, a woman with a disability, served as a Principal Secretary in the State Department for Culture and Heritage, Ministry of Sports and Heritage in the last government. Whereas she was the only woman with a disability serving in what could be considered as a high office, it still falls below the mark of what true and meaningful representation means.  We can do better as a country. The President must be guided by our Constitution on this matter.

Many barriers exist for women with disabilities to access leadership and decision-making spaces. When they miss in these spaces, the specific needs of women and girls with disabilities often remain unattended in many areas. This is why, as women with diverse disabilities from different counties in Kenya, join other voices calling for an end to this marginalisation, and in unison urge President William Ruto, to be guided by our Constitution; that he may be guided by our national values and principles of equity, social justice and inclusiveness in the formation of the new cabinet.