The gazettement of a Referendum Bill is a political statement and politically anything can be done.
However, from the look of things now, the timelines may be a problem because there is a requirement that you cannot have a referendum two years to an election.
This means that if there is to be a referendum, it has to be done before August this year, which is very difficult. It is for this reason some people are saying, we should have an election and the referendum at the same time. That is possible.
The other issue is what the referendum question is going to be and what the issues are. It is good to note that the Building Bridges Initiative has not completed its work and submitted a report to President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Before BBI rallies were halted by the coronavirus pandemic, some politicians were calling for a referendum in June.
Remember that the BBI report will again be taken to the counties to be debated. At least 24 counties have to feel good about it. The referendum Bill provides a 14-day time frame within which county assemblies must forward their decisions on a popular initiative draft Bill to Parliament. There is a lot of leg work that needs to be done.
If the Bill is approved by at least 24 county assemblies, it shall be introduced in the two Houses of Parliament within 14 days of such approval
What the gazettement notice did was to make way for a referendum law. Parliament simply published a Bill to guide the referendum process. One of the issues that had come up before was that there was no referendum law. If we are going to have a new constitution, which is going to be done through a referendum, then a referendum law needs to be in place.
As to whether there will be a referendum before August this year is rather difficult to tell and remains to be seen. It is a political thing, but there can be a referendum during the next polls on future governance.
Macharia Munene, a professor of history and international relations at USIU spoke to The Star
