With the growing momentum to have women voices amplified at the decision making spaces more so in conversations on policies in the wake of the devolved governance systems, the call to build stronger women movements that speaks with a unity of purpose cannot be over stated.
In Meru County, the women Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) came together to form a caucus dubbed the Meru Women Legislative Association (MEWOLA) aimed at creating a space for the women leaders to champion for the rights of women and engender the legislative processes at the county level.
Through the MEWOLA the women MCAs have strategically positioned themselves to collectively influence the Assembly and work together with the County Government to deliver services to communities. The MEWOLA believes that effective women’s participation can influence change despite the historical inequalities.
On December 7, 2018 MEWOLA launched its inaugural five year Strategic Plan with an aim of harnessing greater partnerships between men and women legislators to promote gender equality through legislations and to increase the number, influence and impact of women political leadership and governance in Meru County.
During the launch, speaker after speaker emphasised on the need for formation of women caucuses in all the counties. Meru County is the second after Nyeri to have the women caucus launch their development roadmap.
While speaking at the launch the Meru County First Lady Priscilla Murungi appreciated the efforts of the women MCAs and extended her invitation to them to work with her office and the executive in their strategic focus.
“I congratulate the women who had the courage to stand up and be elected. Women have the power but in most cases they shy off because of the way they have been socialized,” said Priscilla.
The first lady who was the Chief Guest at the launch said that the society must begin mentoring women at a younger age to sharpen their skills and build their confidence to participate in issues of societal good.
“We do not have to circumcise our girls to make them powerful women. We need to sharpen their brains to make them proud of their womanhood. We must also make our boys proud of who they are and supporters of their sisters. In this we build and equal society,” she emphasised.
The Governor Kiraitu Murungi who was also in attendance during the launch expressed confidence in the capability of women to transform communities stating that his government has a good will to empower women through the Meru Twaweza program both socially, economically and politically.
The Chairperson of MEWOLA Lucy Mukaria expressed that the caucus shall prioritise on result areas and seek resources necessary to implement the strategic activities to create significant impact in the governance of Meru County, seek better service delivery to people and create confidence as a trusted entity to effectively engage with communities.
“I extend my invitation to the likeminded partners: individuals, government, development partners to partner with MEWOLA. We can only hasten the achievement of our objectives if we work jointly with mutual understanding and cooperation,” said Mukaria.
MEWOLA Archives - CREAWKENYA
Asenath Kaimuri says when women combine their efforts, the impacts and contribution towards policy and legislative development is more extensive than individual efforts.
This is in reference to the newly formed Meru County women caucus aimed at championing for the inclusion of women in political governance and development processes.
“We operate in an environment that does not accord women a space to participate in the governance and political processes despite the right to equal representation from both genders having been enshrined in the Constitution. I knew the only way to make our voices louder in the County Assembly is to have all women legislators working together with a common goal to push the women agenda,” says Kaimuri.
Kaimuri is the chairperson for the Meru Women Legislative Association (MEWOLA); a caucus of women legislators at the County Assembly of Meru formed to chat the path for the women agenda owing to the cultural challenges that underpins political representation in the County.
The Caucus is headed by a secrteriate that includes, the Chairperson, Vice Chair, Secretary, Assistant Secretary, Treasurer.
During the 2017 general elections, only two women were directly elected to the County Assembly of Meru. 21 members were nominated by the various political parties to fill in the gender threshold as per the Constitutional provisions of the two-thirds gender principle.
“Most elected MCAs are men and they feel they have more rights than the women when it comes to appointment in the House committees. At first none of the women were elected to chair the committees but after push and pull from the women legislators, only one was given a slot to chair the County Cohesion and Devolved Unit Committee,” she says.
“The Committee positions were politicized as well. The criteria used was regionalized based on the Wards which only factored the male membership in the Assembly leaving out of the key policy decision making processes,” adds Kaimuri noting that the environment for women leadership has since changed.
That did not however deter them from pushing forward to have their voices heard. Their persistence garnered then positions as the vice chair of the house committees…name them.
Today the MEWOLA is in the process of drafting a strategic plan that would guide their operations in the coming five years. Key among the strategic focus is the enactment of the Meru County Sexual and Gender Based Violence policy for an effective prevention and response of GBV and create budgets that are gender sensitive.
“We aspire to create strategic partnerships wit state and non-state actors to ensure gender issues are mainstreamed in the county.” She explains.
In the last County Integrated Development Plan, gender issues were not well articulated posing a challenge to the implementation of projects that adhere to the issues of inclusivity including people living with disability.
For decades CREAW has been working to equip women with the knowledge to be able to challenge societal norms that underpins their ascension to appointive and elective positions. With the knowledge, the women gain the confidence to engage with key decision makers on accountability issues on the rights of women and girls. Through that; they are also able to vie and get elected into the county and national assembly and able to influence key policies that enables for the actualization of the inclusion of women in the development processes as well us address the scourge of gender based violence in the communities.