A group of Taita Taveta technocrats has proposed the amendment of the Constitution to save constituencies at the risk of being merged.
The group is collecting views from residents as they prepare to meet the Building Bridges Initiative team.
Among the technocrats are politicians and opinion leaders like former Governor John Mruttu and ex-Wundanyi MP Thomas Mwadeghu.
Twenty-seven constituencies are likely to be scrapped in the forthcoming boundaries review if they fail to meet the population threshold set by the Constitution. Three out of the four constituencies in Taita Taveta will be merged.
Mruttu said the law should be amended to protect the listed constituencies.
“It is clear that we shall not be able to achieve the estimated population and thereby we might end up losing some of our constituencies. We want the forthcoming boundary review stopped,” he said in Mwatate on Tuesday.
Only Voi constituency meets the threshold of the population.
According to the 2009 census, Taita Taveta had a population of 284,657.
“Reduction of constituencies will adversely affect the citizenry in many aspects including representation, funds allocation and employment,” he said.
The technocrats also want the BBI team to focus on the utilisation of local resources for the benefit of residents.
Mruttu said the functions of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission should be devolved to all sub-counties.
The group rejected calls for a ceremonial president in the proposed referendum with political analyst Geoffrey Kimonge saying there should be an expanded executive for a more inclusive government.
“We want the law to allocate at least 45 per cent of the estimated budget to the county governments and the Senate strengthened to efficiently oversee them,” Kimonge said.
(Edited by R.Wamochie)
