REPUBLIC OF KENYA

THE PRESIDENCY
MINISTRY OF DEVOLUTION AND PLANNING

OPENING REMARKS BY MS. ANNE WAIGURU, OGW, CABINET

SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF DEVOLUTION AND PLANNING AT THE
6TH COMMONWEALTH WOMEN PARLIAMENTARIANS AFRICA
CONFERENCE AT SAFARI PARK HOTEL, NAIROBI ON 7TH AUGUST
2015

H.E. Mrs. Margaret Kenyatta, First Lady of the Republic of Kenya,

Hon Rebecca Kadaga, MP,
Hon. Lucia Witbooi, MP, CSP Chairperson,
Honorable Members of Common Wealth Women Parliamentarians
Present
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentmen,
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Your Excellency,
Ladies and Gentlemen;
I feel greatly honored to join you this morning during this official opening
of the 6th Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians Africa Regional
Conference. This meeting is indeed significant as it will provide us an
opportunity to discuss issues affecting women and girls within the Post2015 Development Agenda. It is indeed a worthy initiative to help move
further the Gender Agenda forward.
Your Excellency,
Ladies and Gentlemen;
As you are aware, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which were
adopted in year 2000 were to be attained by 2015. Similar to most
countries, Kenya has recorded mixed achievements on the 8 MDGs.
Though we have not yet fully met any of the targets, as a country, we have
made significant progress on MDGs 2, 3, 5 and 8 which include: Education,
Gender

Equality,

Development.

Maternal

Healthcare

and

Global

partnership

for

It is also worth noting that as a nation, we have made

commendable economic progress.

Your Excellency,

Ladies and Gentlemen;

Theres a great deal of evidence that Kenya has made significant progress
in promoting Gender Equality and Womens Empowerment. This is a key
agenda of this government and is driven by the personal commitment of
H.E the President.
To begin with, Kenyas Constitution (2010), has been lauded as one of the
most progressive, comprehensive and all-encompassing constitutions in the
world, with many gains for women and girls. The Constitution specifically
guarantees gender equality through provisions which promote fundamental
freedoms for all persons regardless of age, sex, gender, religious affiliations
or persuasion. It prohibits discrimination on the basis of among other
things, sex, pregnancy and marital status. The Constitution recognizes
economic and social rights including the right to property, housing, a clean
environment, health and education among others. Legislative and Policy
measures are being undertaken to give effect to the provisions of the
Constitution which include ensuring fair representation of women in key
decision making positions, and that no more than 2/3rds of any one gender
should hold elective or appointive public positions.
As a result of implementation of the constitution, it is worth noting that
there has been marked progress in Womens participation in leadership,
governance and decision-making. Today, women in parliament form 25%

of elected representatives, up from 9.9 per cent in 2007, an immediate and

significant improvement achieved within one election cycle.
At the Cabinet level, women Cabinet Secretaries comprise 33.3 per cent.
More importantly, the Government has placed much confidence in womens
leadership by appointing the women Cabinet Secretaries in strategic
Ministries.
In the Judiciary, the Deputy Chief Justice and the Chief Registrar of the
Judiciary are women. The Supreme Court consists of 28.6 per cent of
women while court of appeal consist 30.8 per cent. In High Court 40.7 per
cent are women.

Your Excellency,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In terms of policy, the Kenyas Vision 2030, which is the Countrys national
development blue print and its attendant Mid-Term Plan, also have a strong
appreciation of gender matters, and adopts a mainstreaming principle to
gender issues. The vision for gender is that men and women enjoy a
high quality of life and equal opportunities,

while recognizing that

addressing gender concerns is crucial for sustainable development. The

MTP has various gender specific programmes and projects to mitigate
inequalities in various sectors. The integration of Gender equity and
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empowerment of women and girls has also been undertaken in various

Sector Policies.
Your Excellency,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Kenya has adopted womens economic empowerment as the central policy
and programme thrust in the interventions that Government is undertaking
towards addressing gender inequality. At the turn of the century, it was
increasingly recognized that women, were being left out from economic
development because they were not owners of factors of production. This
situation had resulted in a perpetual exclusion from accessing financial
services that would expand economic opportunities for them. This was
identified as one of the key factors that was slowing down women and girls
from progressing in other human development indicators. It is for this
reason that the government has established various catalytic funds, fully
funded by government aimed at bridging this gap in the interim. These
include:
The Women Enterprise Fund (WEF)
The Women Enterprise Fund was established in 2007 to provide accessible
credit to women to start and/or expand their business. The Government
has invested USD64Million since inception and this has benefitted over
1million women. The Fund has been a recipient of the 2011 MDG Award by
the MDGs Trust Fund.
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The Youth Enterprise Development Fund

The Youth Enterprise Development Fund was established in 2006 focusing
on enterprise development as a key strategy to increase participation of the
Kenyan youths in employment creation and Nation building. Over USD
127Million has been disbursed to date. A good number of the youth who
have benefitted from this fund are young women.
The UWEZO Fund, (translated to mean Ability)
The Uwezo Fund was established in 2013 with an initial allocation of
USD66Million. It provides interest free credit to groups of youth, women
and persons with disability. The fund adopts a hybrid concept of Table
Banking and Revolving Funds, designed to ensure that women and
youth groups are able to employ the resources available for credit, while
similarly promoting and sustaining a savings culture. The concept of group
borrowing is aimed at correcting for physical collateral, as groups provide
the needed social collateral. One strength of the Fund, is that is has
invested over USD5 Million in capacity building for the target beneficiaries.
Your Excellency,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Having implemented all these, government realized that women were still
missing in the numbers. It was not enough to just have women at the
decision making table; and even when we gave them credit, their
businesses were not growing and as such they were just getting stuck in a
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credit rut.

Research and feedback, has revealed that though there has

been considerable investment in deepening financial access as a stimulant

for entrepreneurial development, there has existed a gap in terms of
women owned businesses accessing the opportunities to do business. The
most recent policy thrust has now focused on - Access to Markets. This has
been considered as the missing link that closes the loop in economic
empowerment.
It is within this backdrop, that the Government initiated a transformative
policy aimed at using affirmative action, to guarantee women, youth and
persons with disability, access as suppliers of goods and services to
government.

This is the 30% Public Procurement Preference and

Reservation Regulations of 2013 which guide the implementation of the

Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 2005. The Preference and
Reservation Regulations are the basis for the Access to Government
Procurement Opportunities Programme (AGPO).
The Preference Regulations reserve at least 30%, of all public
procurement spend for business owned by women, youth and persons with
disabilities (PWDs). Total government public procurement spend is
approximately USD6.3 Billion annually, as such 30% translates to
approximately USD2.1Billion every year. What the government is doing in
essence is putting real money in womens hands. In doing so the
government is closing the loop in the economic empowerment cycle, by
providing women access to the biggest consumer in the Kenyan market that is Government.
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So far, contracts worth USD210 million have been awarded to about 8, 000
companies owned by youth, women and persons with disabilities. Further,
over 55,000 companies have been certified to benefit from the scheme.
This has been acclaimed as a one of its kind initiative..
Your Excellency,
Ladies and Gentlemen
To further support this programme, the government through the existing
Funds above is providing LPO financing that will support these category of
businesses in servicing their contracts. We are also partnering with the
private sector, specifically banks, to see to it that the modalities for LPO
financing can be more facilitative. Further in recognition of the steps that
the government has taken, the Commonwealth Business Women is setting
up in Nairobi, a regional centre for excellence in procurement that will train
women entrepreneurs in certified procurement courses in conjunction with
the Certified Institute of Procurement and Supplies. Partnerships such as
these will go a long way in further facilitating women and youth
entrepreneurship by enabling them access opportunities in government.
Your Excellency,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
As I conclude, let me note that experience has taught us that democratic
ideals of inclusiveness, accountability, and transparency cannot be achieved
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without laws and policies that address inequalities. This includes the
existing disparities on gender equality. It is therefore paramount that we
weave these ideals into the social, political and economic fabric of our
society, such that beyond the legal framework girls and women are able to
realize all their aspirations without limitations due to gender. Our goal as a
Government is not merely to have a progressive legal and policy framework
but to have a country where the laws support the practical realization of
empowerment and equality for women and girls. To do this we need
everyone to uphold the spirit and the values of the Constitution. National
government and County government; CSOs, Private sector, men and
women, all need to work together to support inclusion and gender equality.
Together we can ensure a country, region and world where women and
girls have more choices than ever before in our history, so that their
dreams are attainable.
It is now my humble duty to invite Her Excellency the First Lady to
make the key note address.