Number of Elected and Nominated Leaders in Kenya

Devolution has brought about an increasing number of electoral positions in Kenya. Though this can be termed as a good thing, it has also brought about some challenges with the government having to spend extensively to cater for their salaries and allowances.

Here is the fact file of elected and nominated leaders the country;

National Assembly

Kenya has a total of 349 members of the national assembly, with 290 elected from constituencies, 47 women representatives and 12 nominated members to represent the special interest groups like the youth, children, women, and people with disabilities.

Nairobi boasts the highest number of elected members of parliament with 14 positions.

The Senate

The number of elected senators is 47, which is similar to the number of counties. In order to bring in the sense of gender balance in the Senate, 16 women are nominated to the Senate, 4 members are also nominated to represent the youth and the people with disability.

County Assembly

Each county has the governor as the president. The total number of gubernatorial positions in Kenya is 47. The members of the county assembly (MCAs) countrywide add up to 1,450. There are also 772 nominated MCAs. Every governor must have his deputy which also adds the number of the position to 47.

Women in leadership

For the first time in Kenya’s history, women were elected to serve as governors and senators, and 29 percent more women ran for office than in the previous election — a fact that led to the largest number of women ever seated at all levels of the Kenyan government. Women now hold 172 of the 1,883 elected seats in Kenya, up from 145 after the 2013 elections.

Although Kenya’s constitution mandates that all appointed and elected bodies contain at least one-third women, women’s actual representation often falls short of that threshold. Women account for just 23 percent of the National Assembly and Senate — a figure that includes seats reserved exclusively for women representatives.

From the presidential position to the lowest position, there still remains a question of whether all these positions are necessary.

A recent report even proved that since the onset of devolution corruption levels have increased as there is a good number of ghost workers being paid by counties.

Some political experts even opine that some positions should be scrapped off to reduce government expenditure on salaries and allowances.