President William Ruto has stopped short of committing to a Cabinet reshuffle to comply with the two-thirds gender rule, saying the constitutional requirement remains a “work in progress” in Parliament.
Ruto was asked whether he would reconstitute his Cabinet amid pressure to ensure compliance with the constitutional principle.
Speaking during the Katiba Day celebrations at the KICC in Nairobi, Ruto acknowledged that the two-thirds gender requirement is among the commitments his administration has yet to fulfil, but did not announce any Cabinet changes or give a timeline for reconstituting the Cabinet.
“It is. That’s a much simpler thing to say,” Ruto said in response to the question before cautioning against reducing the matter to a simple yes-or-no answer.
“Just the same way the court has ruled that Parliament is not constitutional. That may not be achieved today, as it is a work in progress. Progressively, that is work in progress.”
Ruto Addresses Calls to Reconstitute Cabinet Over Two-Thirds Gender Rule
He said some constitutional requirements and court decisions take time to implement, arguing that the process should be viewed as work in progress.
Ruto pointed to his proposals to Parliament on how the two-thirds gender requirement could be achieved, saying the matter was still being addressed.
“I did make proposals myself to Parliament on how we could attain the two-thirds gender rule. It is still a work in progress in Parliament,” he said.
Ruto also noted that the courts had previously determined that failure to comply with the two-thirds gender principle was unconstitutional.
He appeared to draw a comparison with an earlier court ruling on Parliament’s failure to meet the two-thirds gender principle, saying implementation of such decisions could take time and would be achieved progressively.
“That determination was made by the court, I think almost five years ago, six years ago, to be exact. But it’s a work in progress,” he added.
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High Court Orders Cabinet Reconstitution
Ruto’s remarks come after the High Court ordered him to reconstitute the Cabinet within 120 days after finding that its composition violated the Constitution’s two-thirds gender principle.
In a judgment delivered on June 30, a three-judge bench directed the President to ensure future Cabinet appointments comply with Article 27(8) of the Constitution, which requires that no more than two-thirds of the members of an appointive body be of the same gender.
“The appointing authority, being the President, is hereby directed to make appointments for Cabinet Secretaries in conformity with Article 27(8) within 120 days from the date of this judgement,” Justice Eric Ogola ruled on behalf of the bench.
The court found that the Cabinet, as constituted at the time of the judgment, failed to meet the constitutional gender threshold.
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In determining compliance, the judges held that the relevant Cabinet membership for purposes of Article 27(8) comprises only the offices expressly recognised under Article 152(1) of the Constitution — the President, Deputy President, Attorney General and Cabinet Secretaries.
The judges excluded the Secretary to the Cabinet from the computation and assessed the Cabinet’s composition as it stood at the time of the judgment rather than when the petition was initially filed.
According to the court, the Cabinet consisted of 25 members, of whom seven were women and 18 were men. That translated to approximately 28 per cent female representation, below the constitutional threshold requiring that no more than two-thirds of the members of an appointive body be of the same gender.
The court held that in a 25-member Cabinet, the under-represented gender should occupy at least nine positions.
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