Presidential contender David Maraga has vowed that if he wins the 2027 elections, his government will fully enforce the Constitution’s two-thirds gender rule—a mandate that Parliament has struggled to implement for over ten years.
In an interview on Radio Generation, the former Chief Justice defended his controversial 2020 recommendation to dissolve Parliament, insisting that he was merely upholding the law after lawmakers failed to enact legislation on gender representation.
Maraga said the challenge arose from “a constitutional demand” found in the transitional provisions of the 2010 Constitution, which gave Parliament five years to operationalise the two-thirds gender principle. This rule bars more than two-thirds of elective or appointive positions from being held by members of the same gender.
“Two-thirds gender rule demands that no appointed or elective positions should be occupied by more than two-thirds of one gender,” he stated on Thursday.
The former top judge said repeated reminders to Parliament went unheeded. Following several petitions, he explained, the Constitution required him to notify the president and seek an explanation before recommending dissolution.
“I had eight petitions,” he recalled. “I served the government with those questions… why I should not recommend what the Constitution requires.”
Maraga said the Executive and Parliament claimed they had attempted to pass the law but were unsuccessful. He dismissed these justifications as inadequate.
“They were giving me excuses that they have tried… It’s five years,” he said. “I didn’t find any reasonable cause, so I followed the dictates of the Constitution. And I recommended it. I finished my work.”
Asked if a similar situation could arise if he became president, Maraga said he does not anticipate it. He emphasized, however, that the constitutional power to dissolve Parliament remains since the gender rule has yet to be implemented.
“It does not quite outlive its mandate,” he said. “It can still come.”
He pledged that his administration would adhere strictly to the law from the start. “I will not allow that to come,” Maraga said. “What I will do is make sure that my government complies with the law.”
In 2020, Maraga issued an advisory to then-President Uhuru Kenyatta recommending the dissolution of Parliament after citizens petitioned over its ongoing failure to implement the two-thirds gender rule.
Article 81(b) of the 2010 Constitution bars any elective public body from having more than two-thirds of its members from the same gender. Since 2012, multiple court rulings have found Parliament in violation of this provision, repeatedly ordering it to enact the necessary legislation under threat of dissolution.
Currently, a consolidated case involving nine or more petitions is before the High Court and Supreme Court, seeking to have the 13th Parliament declared unconstitutional and dissolved. Petitioners argue that Maraga’s advisory was not limited to the previous Parliament and that the gender rule remains unmet.
