The Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP), 4th September, participated in a consultative engagement with the Office of the Women’s Rights Advisor (OWRA) to deliberate and structure mechanisms of protection of Constitutional women’s rights through political parties.
The discussions apprised the current status of women’s representation in political parties and the persistent barriers to the full implementation of the two-thirds gender principle as enshrined in the Constitution.
The Registrar of Political Parties, Ms. Sophia Sitati, in the forum, reiterated ORPP’s commitment in promoting gender inclusivity within political parties. She emphasized the Constitutional obligation of political parties to ensure equitable gender representation and the need for continuous monitoring and adherence to various legal requirements.
Assistant Registrar, CPA Florence Birya briefed on ORPP efforts in enforcing the law on women’s participation in political parties leadership. She highlighted key requirements for women’s inclusion by political parties, including having at least three founding members at the start of a political party registration, and the two-thirds gender principle required of parties in their governance and membership.
The Assistant Registrar also highlighted milestones by ORPP, such as guiding and regular capacity building of political parties’ women’s leagues, which have been key in agitating for the women’s issues agenda.The ORPP, OWRA resolved to establish a joint Technical Team to formulate a framework of cooperation to jointly carry out joint programmes for women in political parties.Some of the areas of focus to be explored within the framework include capacity building; advocacy and public awareness; compliance &policy reforms, research &data sharing, and incentivizing the most gender responsive political parties.