• ODM is yet to take a position but its key voices have rejected the initiative.
• They will rally MCAs in their strongholds and court like-minded allies to kill the Bill.
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s ODM is secretly plotting on how to block the Punguza Mizigo referendum call in the Orange dominated assemblies, the Star can authoritatively reveal.
The plan, which is woven around an express directive to ODM MCAs to shoot down the Bill, will also involve courting like-minded parties to lobby for campaign's rejection.
The idea is being mooted by the party’s top leadership, which views the initiative as a deliberate move to steal the show from the Building Bridges Initiative spearheaded by President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila.
The party, the Star has established, will at the opportune time convene a meeting with the leadership of the assemblies controlled by ODM to give direction on the Bill which seeks to radically alter the governance structure of the country.
Currently, ODM boasts 13 out of the 47 governors but is firmly in control of at least 14 county assemblies. The goodwill from counties under the grip of coalition partners – Wiper and Ford Kenya – raises the number of counties under opposition NASA to 18.
The Bill by former presidential candidate Ekuru Aukot must get the nod of at least 24 counties to move to the next stage.
The ODM controlled counties are: Mombasa, Kilifi, Tana River, Turkana, Kakamega, Vihiga, Busia, Siaya, Kisumu, Homa Bay, Migori, Taita Taveta, Kisii and Nyamira.
Even though Taita Taveta county has Wiper governor, Raila’s party controls the assembly with more than half of the 20 MCAs elected on ODM ticket.
Its partners in the National Super Alliance controls five counties, with Wiper having the grip on Makueni, Kitui and Machakos counties while Ford Kenya has Bungoma and Trans Nzoia.
What might completely spoil the math for Aukot’s Punguza Mizigo is the position the giant Jubilee party will take.
The ruling party is currently giving mixed reactions, with National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale dismissing the push while his Senate counterpart Kipchumba Murkomen has lauded the Bill as attractive to devolution proponents.
Speaking in his Garissa Township constituency on Friday, Duale warned the Punguza Mizigo being fronted by Thirdway Alliance party is detrimental to pastoral communities.
“Pastoralists are not ready to pass the Bill if it will reduce Member of County Assembly seats and constituency-based seats. If members of the Garissa county assembly pass the Bill, we shall deal with them as a community,” Duale said.
In ODM’s arithmetic, once the bid is deprived of the much-needed numbers, BBI which it believes has a more comprehensive mandate to tackle what ails the country will be accorded ample space and time.
Both ODM chairman John Mbadi and secretary general Edwin Sifuna said the relevant party organs are yet to meet and adopt a single position on the matter but were unanimous in its rejection.
“We have not taken a position as a party. As at now I would just tell our MCAs not to give it much thought. Let them wait for Building Bridges Initiative outcome,” Mbadi told the Star.
“We will communicate once the matter has been formally discussed by the relevant party organs,” said Sifuna who is in South Africa.
Mbadi of Suba South rubbished Aukot’s push as "hollow, simplistic and populist", stating it has failed to address important issues facing the majority of Kenyans.
“There are so many issues that affect Kenyans which they would want to amend the Constitution to accommodate. We have the issue of inclusivity but instead what I see in Aukot’s proposal is a danger to that inclusivity. There are some small communities whose only level of representation nationally is probably their Member of Parliament, how are you going to deal with that?” posed Mbadi.
“This is just causing confusion for nothing. How do you have two MPs for a whole county and the National Assembly is supposed to represent people? How do you take care of the marginalized communities like the Kurias in Migori?”
He cast doubts on the authenticity of the 1,222,541 verified signatures approved by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
“If this list could be made public you will find so many people whose names are there but did not sign. Where were these books, at least in Okoa Kenya there were books which could be seen,” he said.
Wiper secretary general Judith Sijeny equally dismissed the Bill, citing a number of gaps that she noted will see its rejection.
The former nominated senator stated Wiper is yet to come up with a common position on the matter, admitting that pushing the Bill through will be a tall order as it flatly fails to address pressing issues affecting Kenyans.
“I don’t concur with the idea that they should scrap off the position of woman representative and women nominees. Why do they target women?” she asked.
She warned against the proposed one seven-year presidency, claiming it will take the country to the past eras when leaders would loot the country because ‘it is my turn to eat’.
Senate Minority Leader James Orengo and ODM secretary in charge of political affairs Opiyo Wandayi have separately warned against passage of the Bill by the county assemblies.
Ugunja MP Wandayi said ODM will soon meet to take a position on the matter noting that the Punguza Mizigo Bill will not see the light of day in the county assemblies.
He noted that the initiative runs short of key issues that it should have addressed saying the Thirdayway Alliance should have waited for the BBI to finish its public hearings.
“ODM is yet to give its official position but what I can say for now is that this thing does not address the issue of inclusivity. They have left the Executive intact. It has also not extensively tackled the issue of corruption,” he said.
“This process has simply been rushed and I cannot support it. We should not have multiple processes, instead they should have waited for the BBI report which has the views of all Kenyans.”
He called on the county assemblies to reject the Bill in its entirety.
“Assemblies should reject the Bill. We need a comprehensive approach. But should they pass, Kenyans will shoot it down during a vote,” he said.