Their being MPs does not make them any different. These women cry and laugh like ordinary women, just ask Millie Mabona and Joyce Lay. The tale of abuse and heartbreak that stalk a childless woman in the National Assembly came to the fore on April 15, as two beautiful and married women lawmakers shared personal and teary experiences at the hands of their opponents and colleagues in the august House. In candid and shocking revelations, Millie Mabona (MP, Mbita ) and Joyce Lay (Women Representative,Taita-Taveta) – two MPs who have previously complained publicly about assault and harassment by alleged randy male colleagues, spoke about the pressure put on them to have children, and why they are considering the option of having test-tube babies, through invitro-fertilisation (IVF). Millie revealed that Deputy Majority Leader, Naomi Shaaban, has been piling pressure on her to have children, and that whenever she disagreed with some of her male colleagues, she was dismissed as “a barren prostitute” behind her back. “My friend Dr Naomi Shabaan has broached this subject severally. She has been following me and telling me, ‘Millie, now we need you to stop and have your own child’. I have promised them that I will and even if I don’t have my own, I will adopt because I have been a mother to many children as the director of Cradle (a children’s rights non-governmental organisation),” Millie said. Millie, who is married to a Zimbabwean, then explained why she doesn’t have children. “One of the reasons I still don’t have a child is my lifestyle – I am married to non-Kenyan and I do not want to have a child with another man and purport to present it as my husband’s baby. Because of the distance and my age, we cannot have a child naturally, unless of course we go back to the biblical times of Abraham and Sarah. But miracles are in short supply nowadays,” said Millie, who is a lawyer by profession.
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