Northeastern leaders are outraged by the failure of BBI promoters to split large constituencies in the region.
They say that was evidence of further marginalisation of the vast region.
According to lawmakers from Wajir and Garissa counties, Wajir South and Ijara constituencies should have been split.
To them, it is constitutionally wrong to delineate constituencies at county level and warned of a barrage of litigations.
Only Mandera in Northeastern was allocated one constituency out of 70 created in the BBI report. Nairobi got 12 and Kiambu six new constituencies.
Wajir South MP Mohamud Sheikh Omaar, who spoke after a meeting in Nairobi on behalf of his colleagues, said the 70 constituencies should be reviewed with the aim of reducing allocations to other regions.
“We’ve been left in the cold in the push for an extra constituency in Wajir South yet it has surpassed the threshold. You can’t compare it with Gatundu South. It is unfair that Nairobi, which has no space, was given 12 constituencies.
“My constituency, is for instance, the size of the old Central, Nairobi, and Western provinces combined. Literally, it is the size of Rwanda. It can’t be left behind,” Omaar said while calling for further amendments to the BBI Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
The Bill seeks to create constituencies in 28 select counties with Nairobi set to get the lion's share.
Mombasa, Kwale, Machakos, Uasin Gishu, Narok, Kajiado and Bungoma will get three each.
Meru, Trans Nzoia, Bomet, Kakamega and Kisumu are set to get two each, and Nyamira, Siaya, Kericho, Laikipia, Nandi, West Pokot, Turkana, Murang'a, Kirinyaga, Makueni and Embu one each.
The NE leaders were concerned that even Ijara, the home of BBI task force chairman Yusuf Haji, was left behind in the proposed changes.
“Ijara is the largest constituency in Garissa. We will continue to lobby the President to consider our plight. Wajir South is still pro-BBI despite all this,” Omaar said.
He lamented that the region is disadvantaged by various things and carries the burden of other constituencies.
“It is wrong for us to carry the burden of other constituencies…IEBC is the one that should identify and delineate constituency boundaries,” the lawmaker said.
Ijara MP Sophia Abdi Nur weighed in thus: “These changes that we call for are still possible.”
In Central, large constituencies like Kieni, which had been tipped for split were also left out.
On Tuesday, sources intimated to the Star that there was a plan for further amendments to the proposed share of constituencies.
