The Building Bridges Initiative on Friday finalised its public hearings with a promise to incorporate all the views submitted in the final report.
The task-force wound up the public participation sessions in Nairobi where calls to amend the constitution to change the governance structure dominated proceedings.
Committee vice-chairman Adams Oloo said they will retreat from Monday to start scrutinising the views to pick what Kenyans agreed for the final report.
“We want to assure all Kenyans that their views, including those who did not physically appear before us but submitted their memoranda, will be factored in the report,” Oloo said.
The task-force birthed by the March 9, 2018 handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga will submit the report to the two leaders in October.
It has been collecting views on how Kenyans want to be governed and ways of ending the animosity and division that often rocks the country during every election cycle.
During the Friday session held at KICC, politicians, independent commissions and civil societies joined calls for a change in governance structure to enhance inclusivity.
Privatisation Commission chairman and former Funyula MP Paul Otuoma, former Mombasa gubernatorial aspirant Suleiman Shahbal and former Gachoka MP Mutava Musymi called for an overhaul of the current governance system.
Musyimi was representing former lawmakers.
“We need to move away from the current system because it is against the principle of inclusivity. It brings about unnecessary competition and promotes ethnicity,” Otuoma said.
The winner-take-all principle should be immediately scrapped and the parliamentary system adopted, Otuoma said.
For this to happen, Otuoma said the office of the Registrar of Political Parties should be empowered to effectively check political parties.
“Political parties should be institutions that are properly run to ensure they are not abused by individuals,” he said.
Musyimi said the country needs to adopt a parliamentary system where Cabinet secretaries are appointed from among MPs to promote service delivery and accountability.
He recommended the merger of the Senate and the National Assembly to end duplication of roles which has caused an endless supremacy war between MPs and senators. Musyimi recommended the number of counties be reduced from the current 47 to between eight and 15.
“We want the law changed to compel public and state officers who are charged in court to step aside and if they are convicted. They should be barred from holding public office again and blacklisted from doing business with the government,” he said.
Public Service Commission chairman Stephen Kirogo recommended that the health function be reverted to the national government and human resource management placed under the commission.
Kirogo said that the law should be reviewed so health workers are limited from engaging in strikes. He said that just like police officers and military are restricted from participating in industrial actions, health workers should too be barred from work boycotts given the nature of the work.
edited by peter obuya
