Kiambu MCAs shoot down Punguza Mizigo bill

Kiambu County Assembly Wednesday became the latest assembly in the country to reject Ekuru Aukot’s Punguza Mizigo bill which seeks to amend the 2010 Constitution to reduce the public wage bill by cutting the number of elective seats.

With no member supporting the bill, the ward reps in a record of 20 minutes voted to shoot down the bill saying the Third Way Alliance party proposals would lead to under-representation particularly in the populous counties.

'HIDDEN AGENDA'

Ms Yvonne Wanjiku, the chairperson on the assembly’s committee on Implementation and Law Affairs, said the people of Kiambu could not support the bill claiming it had a hidden agenda against populous counties.

“The bill if it succeeds will lead to the county’s improper representation at the national. We therefore cannot support it due to those reasons among others,” Said Ms Wanjiku.

Assembly majority leader Gideon Gachara said the bill was not realistic by proposing to reduce constituencies from the current 290 to 47.

He said it was not logical for a populous county like Kiambu with more than 2 million people to have only one MP.

“The bill totally disregards populous regions. There is no equality as far as the bill is concerned. There is no way populous counties like Kiambu, Nairobi among others can be equated with the less populous ones,” he said.

The leaders said new bill was aimed at fighting big counties and ethnic groups.

The report by committee which was compiled based on views by residents during public participation observed reducing constituencies from 290 to 47 and adopting 47 counties as electoral units would lead to unfair representation in populous counties.

The report noted the current counties were created primarily on community of interests as opposed to population.

ELECTORAL PROCESS

Registration of voters the report indicates should not be pegged on an identification card alone as it is prone to abuse of the electoral process.

“The position of deputy governor is import and should not be scrapped as it acts as a buffer in the event of a vacancy in the office of the governor and it may lead to costly elections in the event of  a vacancy,” reads part of the committee report.

The committee in the report opined the seven year presidential term and five year parliamentary term proposed by the bill is not ideal as it would put the country in a  state of perennial electioneering with would be costly.

The MCAs in the report also said the scrapping of seats for special interest groups in county assemblies and senate is retrogressive.

“Women, youth, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities and marginalized communities would not get the representation they need. This would reverse gains made in achieving equality and equity in the political sphere as articulated in the constitution,” says the report.

The ward reps in their report noted making Senate the upper House with veto powers would make the national assembly redundant.

On war on corruption, the MCAs said the 30 days time frame given for settlement of corruption cases is unrealistic and could lead to many cases being dismissed for having not been concluded within the proposed days.

The committee however supported Ekuru’s bill proposal to increase allocation to counties terming it good as it would lead to accelerated development and social-economic growth at the lowest level.

The ward reps also supported the proposal to limit the number of commissioners terming it as commendable as it would help in reducing the high wage bill currently being witnessed.