A Kenyan Senator, Crystal Asige has thrown her weight behind Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan in her sexual harassment allegation case against Senate President Godswill Akpabio, saying her case has merits.
She also called on African countries, particularly Nigeria, to institutionalise special legislative seats for People Living With Disabilities (PWDs) to ensure greater inclusion in governance.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja ahead of the annual colloquium of the Haske Satumari Foundation, the Kenyan legislator said that harassment has been a systemic issue rooted in patriarchy, one that many women in leadership have had to confront.
“I have followed your news keenly, and I see the challenges Senator Natasha is facing. It is unfortunate but not surprising. Women in politics, across Africa, continue to face harassment, threats, and intimidation simply for daring to take up space”, Asige representing special needs groups in Kenya’s Senate, said.
According to her, no society can progress without adequate representation of all its people.
While sharing a personal experience, Asige recalled an incident where she was assaulted by a cab driver simply because of her visual impairment.
She said, “We are not just battling harassment or abuse, but then we’re also battling the mindsets of the men around us who are the perpetrators of said harassment and abuse as well.
“So it’s really a multi-pronged thing that needs to be addressed, and I think that the people and the politicians that I see in Nigeria right now trying to fight for more space and more equity and fight through harassment that they’re facing, namely Senator Natasha, should absolutely do it, and I think more people should stick behind her, especially because there are merits to the case that she has presented.”
Asige called on Nigerian politicians to follow Kenya’s example in ensuring legislative representation for marginalised groups.
She said, “In my research, I see that Africa really has a lot of work to do in terms of bringing more diversity, especially in leadership and the politics space. Now, in Kenya, there is something called affirmative action seats, within the national assembly and also in the Senate.
“I’m occupying one of those affirmative action seats, because in the Senate, our Constitution demands and our laws demand that there needs to be one male and one female representing disability and that’s what I am doing. I am in the seat for the female. So my counterpart is from the ruling party.
“So this is something that absolutely every single Parliament, every jurisdiction, should move towards, because there isn’t really a better way to start bridging the gap in terms of inclusion of different types of people, especially people with disabilities. This is because who better legislate for disability than a person with disability?
“Usually, or in the past, we’ve had non-disabled parliamentarians come into Parliament and speak on our issues and try to legislate for us, try and look for our solutions, but they’re not a person with disability.”
According to her, the Kenyan constitution mandates affirmative action seats in both the National Assembly and the Senate and require at least one male and one female senator to represent persons with disabilities.
“This model should be replicated across Africa, particularly in Nigeria, which has a population of over 230 million people and with at least 50 million of whom, based on World Health Organisation estimates, have some form of disability”, she said.
The Senator who is a strong advocate for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), lamented that Africa is losing a lot due to the exclusion of PWDs and other marginalized groups from governance.
She said the African continent is losing about 10 per cent of its annual GDP due to a lack of inclusion of PWDs in transport, health, education, and employment sectors.
Asige said, “We need to start understanding, even in business, that we are losing a lot of money as Africa because of being exclusive, because of only thinking of a few, rather than the majority of people. Statistics show that we are losing up to 10 per cent of our annual GDP in the Global South because of a lack of inclusion. That means in our transport, health, education, manufacturing, all different sectors.
“The more non-inclusive we are, the more we’re losing from our annual GDPs. So there is also a business case for inclusion and diversity. It’s not just a nice-to-have or a warm feeling in our hearts, like, oh, we’re including people but there is actually a business case to our economies on the push for more inclusion.
“In Kenya, constitutional amendments require a referendum, but we also have subsidiary laws like the Persons with Disabilities Bill, which I am currently sponsoring. If Nigeria has an equivalent, that could be a starting point for legislative changes,” she said.
On his part, the Founder of Haske Satumari Foundation, Kudla Satumari, stressed the need for disruptive leadership in Africa.
According to him, accountable, inclusive, and equitable leadership is needed to trigger the needed transformation.
Friday Olokor
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