Members of a rights lobby group. (PHOTO/the-star.co.ke)
A lobby group has moved to court to stop the 12th Parliament of Kenya from holding its first session.
Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (CREW) is demanding a court order directing Parliament to work on the necessary laws safeguarding the two-thirds gender rule in its first sitting scheduled next week.
CREW also wants a declaration that the failure by Parliament to obey the two-thirds gender rule caught in articles 27(8) and 81(b) amounts to a violation of women rights to equality, freedom from discrimination and that they are a violation of the Constitution.
According to the petition, the court should declare that the composition of the two Houses has failed to be in tandem with the constitutional threshold.
"It is in the interest of justice that the matter is heard and determined expeditiously before the swearing-in of the Members of the National Assembly and the Senate,” the petition says as quoted by the Star.