Meru County Mp Hon. Bishop Kawira Mwangaza has said that the seat of the Woman Representative was created in the Kenyan constitution in article No.97 so that a woman can be empowered or selected in each of the 47 counties to be a Member of Parliament like the others.
Speaking during the state of the county address, Kawira said that the roles and responsibilities of all Members of Parliament were outlined in Article 95 of the Kenyan constitution.
“The seat I was elected to by Meru County residents made me an MP for all Meru County residents. It is also known as the County Member of Parliament. And because the people of Meru County gave me the crown, I’ve been able to speak freely and without fear because they gave me the authority through the constitution,” she said.
According to Kawira, a woman representative is defined in article No.95 similar to a Member of Parliament representing a constituency. She said the only difference between the two offices was their funding.
The County Mp said that according to article 95 of the constitution, a woman representative or member of parliament representing a constituency attends parliament for three reasons.
“Legislation, representation, and oversight are all functions of the legislature. By oversight, I mean that I am responsible for overseeing how work is done in a government department as well as all of our government’s resources. When I was elected to Parliament, I was chosen as one of three Kenyan women to serve on the house business committee,” she said.
Kawira said that a member of the house business committee’s role is to plan for the parliament, to plan for all communication that occurs in the parliament, to plan on the parliament’s calendar, and to plan on the issues that should be prioritized in parliament.
“I thank God for that opportunity with the Speaker serving as our chair. I’ve gained a lot of experience on what should be prioritized, and I’ve gained a lot of broad knowledge of a lot of things in another committee that I was appointed to, the ICT committee, for which I thank God,” Kawira said.
“In terms of representation, I thank God because he has allowed me to represent the residents of Meru County in Parliament on a variety of issues, many of which directly affect Meru County residents. Many of the issues I raise are specifically about the Meru child,” she said.
“People have seen me on TV addressing issues such as a lack of electricity connection in Meru County residents’ households, damaged electric poles lying on the ground, and a lack of transformers, which has left Meru County residents in the dark for a long time,” she said.
“God has given me the ability to address those issues, and they have received a lot of positive responses, with some households in Meru County experiencing electricity connections. On one occasion, I accompanied a team to install a transformer, thanks to Meru County residents who gave me a voice to represent them,” she said.
Kawira said that among the many issues she addressed was a teacher shortage in schools in Meru County.
“I thank God because the process of recruiting more teachers is ongoing, and I will make certain that we have enough teachers in the end. I have addressed issues of roads where there have been delays in road construction and a lot of mismanagement,”she said.
According to Kawira, a lot of changes had been witnessed on roads that are currently being tarmacked. She said that it was because of her voice that she was given by the Meru County residents.
The County Mp said she addressed security issues where there has been a high level of insecurity on our borders and in our villages.
“I am grateful to God for what the national government has done to address issues of insecurity. I’ve addressed issues on center registration in a variety of sectors, including birth certificates and national identification cards. I requested that centers be located near our residents in the communities,” she said.
“It would save a resident who needs government assistance from having to walk or travel long distances to get to the services. I have addressed issues of court cases that have been delayed for an extended period of time. I enquired as to why there have been instances of files accumulating,” she said.
Kawira said that the issue of pending cases that had been delayed was being addressed. Most importantly, she said she had dedicated a significant amount of time and effort to address issues affecting people with disabilities in Meru County.
Kawira said that in terms of presentation, she had put in a lot of effort to represent her residents because they chose her to be their voice.
