Saturday started off with the good news that Tanzania’s billionaire, Mohammed Dewji who had been kidnapped more than a week ago had been found after his captors dumped him at the Gymkhana grounds in Dar es Salaam. The news reports did not give any more details but all is well that ends well. My prayer is that such kidnappings do not become common place forcing many to live in fear of being snatched by random people. Closer home, Rwandans spent the day before digesting the news of a new cabinet reshuffle that some considered to have had the most significant changes especially if you consider that there were changes in other government bodies like the police, the revenue authority, social security board and immigration among others. Some long serving ministers were dropped while some familiar and unfamiliar names made it to the high table. Also in the same reshuffle, more women were appointed to cabinet posts than ever before. The news theme inevitably became about the fact that the current cabinet achieves a balance between men and women. For Rwandans and those who have been following Rwandan politics the gender balance in the new cabinet should not come off as a shock. The Rwandan leadership has for long etched its name on the roll of establishments that consider the value of women in leadership. Countless stories have been written about the laws that empower women in Rwanda and more precisely the composition of women in the Rwandan legislature. It was therefore only a matter of time for this to also be reflected in the composition of the executive arm of government as well. It is proof that women have over the time not only earned the experience but also gotten used to the fact they too, belong in this spaces. President Paul Kagame has on several occasions pointed out that inclusion of women in these spaces is not a favour but only logical unless one is ok with excluding a huge section of society from the key processes that affect the lives of everyone. In this day and age, a balanced leadership ought to be the norm rather than the exception. In Ethiopia, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed also announced a cabinet reshuffle that saw as many women as men appointed to cabinet posts. The new Ethiopian premier has been in the news for a range of strategic and radical reforms since he came to power in April. It was only a matter of time for those reforms to include the acknowledgement of women as key players in the development of a nation. It is also interesting to note that both Ethiopia and Rwanda have reduced the size of their cabinets. Many other countries in the region, the continent and beyond are yet to achieve gender parity despite having impressive policies on paper pushing for the same. My prayer is that with time cabinets that achieve gender balance will no longer be shocking to news analysts because why should the most logical path be a source of shock anyway? By the way, last week in Iran for example, over 100 women were allowed into the stadium to watch a football game against Bolivia, something that had been banned since the Revolution. I guess we can agree that it was a good week for gender relations in more than one place, right? Email: ssenyonga@gmail.com Blog: www.ssenyonga.wordpress.com Twitter: @ssojo81 The views expressed in this article are of the author.
