Bill seeking additional special seats in Parliament gains support

A Bill that seeks to have the constitution amended to provide for a formula to nominate additional Members of the National Assembly and the Senate if they do not conform to the two-thirds gender principle has received support from stakeholders.

The Constitutional Amendment Bill (No. 2 of 2025), sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot, seeks to ensure conformity with the Constitution regarding the membership of the National Assembly.

The Bill also seeks to amend Article 98 to provide for a formula to nominate additional special seat members of the Senate if the membership of the Senate does not conform to the constitutional principle that not more than two-thirds of the members are of the same gender.

“In the event that the membership of the National Assembly and the Senate does not conform to the principle that not more than two-thirds of the members are of the same gender, there shall be nominated an additional number of special seat members necessary to ensure that not more than two-thirds of the membership of the House are of the same gender,” said Cheruiyot.

The Bill also seeks to amend the Constitution of Kenya to provide for additional seats in the National Assembly and Senate in order to implement the principle that at least five per cent of the members of the public in elective and appointive bodies should be persons with disabilities.

The Bill seeks to have Article 90 of the Constitution amended so that members of a political party are democratically involved in the generation of the party list through a fair and competitive process as set out in the respective party constitution and nomination rules.

The Senate Majority Leader seeks to have each party list reflecting the representation of the marginalised groups set out in Article 100 to the greatest extent possible, taking into account the nature of the party list if the bill is approved by Senators.

President William Ruto, in a memorandum submitted to the Speakers of the National Assembly and the Senate in December 2022, urged Parliament to exercise its full authority to deepen good governance, enhance inclusion in the democratic space and strengthen parliamentary oversight of the executive and promote responsiveness of elected representatives to citizen aspirations.

Ruto said that in the National Assembly, the effect of this formula would establish one-third at 97 members since there already exist 47 affirmative action seats dedicated to women's leadership, with the maximum number required to meet the constitutional threshold being 50.

The President said that with the National Assembly having 26 elected women from the constituencies, the nomination of an additional 24 women would suffice to meet the constitutional requirement, with the same formula applied in the Senate having 16 women nominated to the Senate.

“I believe that trading off the increase in the parliamentary wage bill with the achievement of compliant inclusion of women in parliament is eminently worthwhile, while another modality of achieving compliance is for political parties to deliberately embark on sustained, institutionalised, and robust initiatives that facilitate the empowerment of women to successfully contest legislative seats in greater numbers,” said Ruto.

According to the Parliamentary Budget Office, it will cost Kenyans Sh20 billion annually if the proposal by Ruto for the establishment of a formula to guide the computation of the gender ratio in the National Assembly and the Senate were to be adopted.

Estimates of the Parliamentary Budget Office show the cost of sustaining one Member of Parliament fixed at Sh30 million annually, with salary and allowances alone valued at Sh10.8 million, while the other cash goes to vehicle fixed cost and running of the constituency office.

According to the Parliamentary Budget Office, the total average cost of maintaining one constituency office per year is Sh12 million, while the average total cost of mileage claims per year is approximated at Sh9.6 million, which means the figure will go up with more MPs.

“Members of Parliament are allowed to get a Sh40 million mortgage, a one-off car grant allowance of Sh5 million per member and other administrative costs estimated at Sh15 million per member annually,” a report from the Parliamentary Budget Office shows.

This means that if the proposal by Ruto to ensure the third gender rule in parliament is observed will see Members of Parliament in both houses increased from 416, resulting in a huge wage bill with Parliament’s budget being two per cent of the national budget, translating to Sh39 billion.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission noted that the Bill presents a practical legislative attempt to resolve the long-standing challenge of implementing the two-thirds gender principle while enhancing Persons with Disabilities representation.

IEBC Acting CEO Moses Sunkuli said that Parliament should enact a law that operationalises Articles 100 and 197 of the Constitution, which would promote effective representation in Parliament and County Assemblies of the different categories of marginalised groups listed in the Article. 

“There is a need to provide a clear definition of the term ethnic and other minorities in the law for certainty during the party list election and the office of the Deputy President has developed a policy document that addresses the lacunae. Appropriate legislation reinforcing the policy stipulation ought to be enacted,” said Sunkuli.

The IEBC welcomes the proposal to set a term limit for nominated members stating this will allow more persons to access representation and realize the intention of party list representation being a transitional It further proposed that the term limit be defined further to state whether the two term limit is one off or a nominated person may serve the National Assembly for a maximum of two terms and thereafter the Senate for another two terms.

The Commission stated that in amending Article 97(1)(c), it would be prudent to establish the specific categories of marginalized groups to be included in the list of 12 members noting the progressive realization referenced under Article 54(2), in the guidelines on the requirements for the party lists given to political parties, the Commission may require political parties to prioritize categories of marginalized groups such as persons with disabilities that remain underrepresented.

Sunkuli said that the allocation could also be done in the same fashion that allocation is done in the county assemblies’ list where a marginalized list is administered first before the gender top up list, therefore, the PWD quota should precede the gender top up allocation and that It would be imperative to have a consequential provision that would ensure representation of PWDs in each County Assembly.

Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organisation Chairperson Rahab Muiu said the country cannot continue to violate its own Constitution because by doing so, women continue to be underrepresented in leadership and that Parliament needs to remember that the proposed additional seats are not a favour to women, they are a constitutional requirement.

“The Senate should put in place strict guidelines to ensure that political parties' nominations prioritise women with a proven track record in advancing gender equality, and to prevent the use of these seats as political rewards, therefore defeating the purpose of representation,” said Muiu.

She called for a review after two general elections to assess progress because the additional seats are a temporary corrective measure, not the final solution and therefore a review ensures that political parties are actively nominating women and not relying solely on extra seats and also helps plan for the day when women can reach the two-thirds threshold through elections.

Prof Wanjiku Kabira of the Africa Women Studies Centre at the University of Nairobi said the proposed amendments introduce a direct, time-bound, and institutionally anchored trigger mechanism that converts the two-thirds gender principle from a declaratory constitutional norm into a self-executing and enforceable rule.

“By assigning a clear duty to the electoral commission, imposing a strict implementation timeline, and conditioning the lawful constitution of the Senate on compliance, the amendment eliminates ambiguity, prevents delay, and ensures automatic realisation of constitutional equality,” said Prof Kabira.

The Consortium of Disabled Persons Organisations in Kenya (CDPOK) said the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2025, represents a historic opportunity to transform a democratic space into one that is inclusive, equitable, and representative of all citizens, including persons with disabilities in the country.

It strongly supported the Bill’s intention but emphasised that representation must go beyond numbers to ensure meaningful participation, dignity, and influence in decision-making, urging the Senate to incorporate recommendations made to ensure the amendments deliver substantive equality, eliminate systemic barriers and promote genuine inclusion of persons with disabilities.

The County Assembly Forum recommended that the Senate should approach the petition with caution and with full regard to the constitutional role of representative institutions and that, should it consider the development of a citizen-initiated recall framework, such a framework should not provide for automatic removal upon presentation of a petition by citizens.

“Rather, any citizen-led process should only operate as a formal trigger for an institutional, evidence-based inquiry conducted within a constitutional and statutory framework that respects the oversight role of Parliament and County Assemblies,” stated the Forum in its presentation.

It stated that such a framework should require clear, specific, and legally cognizable grounds for recall, supported by verifiable evidence of misconduct, violation of the Constitution, abuse of office, gross misconduct, or other recognised constitutional thresholds.