Women complain over latest appointments

Barely a month in power, the new government of President Mwai Kibaki is coming under fire from certain sectors regarding the latest senior appointments. The latest voice of discontent has come from the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) - Kenya chapter, which claimed that recent political appointments were particularly unfair to women. Last week, Kibaki - whose opposition National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) won a landslide majority in the 27 December elections - announced a wide range of changes in senior ministerial posts, in which a number of permanent secretaries were replaced and others transferred. FIDA however accused the NARC government of failing to fulfill the promises it made to Kenyans before coming to power to appoint more women to decision-making positions. Out of the 19 appointments made last week, only four were given to women. Sally Kosgey, the head of the civil service, was replaced by former ambassador Francis Muthaura. FIDA said on Monday that the female permanent secretaries did not deserve to be dropped, and even if they did, other qualified women should have been picked to replace them. "It is our strong feeling that key women permanent secretaries affected by the reshuffle did not deserve to be dropped," FIDA said in a statement. "We find the latest action to be contradictory to the pre-electoral commitment given to Kenyans in the presidential inaugural address when President Kibaki expressed his commitment to appoint public officials on the basis of merit and qualifications," it said. "We find the trend to remove women from leadership quite alarming and contrary to the spirit with which Kenyan women voted overwhelmingly for NARC."