POLITICS IN KENYA

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30154, 11 June 1963, Page 2

POLITICS IN KENYA

Women Want More Say

(By a Reuter Correspondent) NAJROBI

Women who want a bigger say in running Kenya put their case at a seminar held at Limuru, near Nairobi, last month. They claimed that at least four women should be nominated for the special seats in Kenya’s new Parliament. Election for the new Parliament took place from May 18 to 26, but very few women were among the nominated candidates for election to the ordinary seats Women attending the seminar discussed every aspect of the country's life. Among those who demanded a say in political affairs, both at national and international level, were: Mrs Pamela Mboya, wife of Mr Tom Mboya of the Kenya Africa National Union; and Mrs Ernestine Kiano, the American wife of Mr Jomo Kenyatta’s Parliamentary secretary. The special seats, of which they demanded four, are designed to cater for special interests which are not covered by universal franchise. The women argue that theirs is a case in point They also demanded that the first independent government of Kenya, which is expected to take office at the end of this year, should nominate a woman in its delegation to the United Nations. In this way, they said, the social problems of the country could be made known to those countries which might give help. They asked that a woman should be at the head of the community development section of a Ministry of Community Development and Social Services. At present, this ministry does not exist, although the portfolios suggested for it are handled by other ministries.

The seminar asked for equal pay and treatment in the teaching profession, and for equal consideration in the resettlement schemes under which African farmers are being settled on farms in the White Highlands. Women speakers at the seminar claimed that African women at present play the greater part in farming and that more attention should be given to training them in modern methods. To their resolution on this they added a rider that their menfolk should take a practical role in farming. At present, .many of them leave it to their wives while they seek work in the towns.