• There is no specific number of MPs in the National Assembly.
•The number will rather be expanded through nominations up to the point where no gender is more than two-thirds of the House.
Image: FILE
The BBI team has made several key adjustments to the proposals contained in the document Kenyans are to sign to.
This is despite the insistence by ODM leader Raila Odinga that the BBI report would not be amended.
Among the key changes is the creation of the position of deputy ministers who can be appointed from among MPs.
It also allows governors to appoint the members of the Executive Committees from among MCAs.
The final Bill also does away with the proposal replacing the National Police Service Commission with a Kenya Police Council.
The direct appointment of a Judiciary Ombudsman by the president has also been dropped with approval by the Senate now required.
The proposal to transfer some four functions permanently from Nairobi County to the National Government has also been dropped.
The Star has established that in the BBI bill, there is no specific number of MPs in the National Assembly.
The number will rather be expanded through nominations up to the point where no gender is more than two-thirds of the House.
The BBI had proposed an additional of 70 extra-parliamentary seats. The extra 70 MPs were to be drawn from constituencies with big populations whose residents faced the risk of being under-represented.
Instead, the BBI technical committee has recommended delimitation of boundaries to create new constituencies by the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission immediately after the BBI referendum.
In the proposal, counties that are presently under-represented by virtue of having heavy populations on the basis of a population quota of 132,138 people per constituency would receive additional MPs.
This would see counties like Nairobi get 12 new seats, Kiambu 6, Nakuru 5, Kilifi 4, Mombasa 3, Bungoma 3 and Kajiado 3 seats.
The removal of the Kenya Police Council means the status quo on the police has been retained.
The bill sought to replace the current National Police Service Commission (NPSC) with a police council to be chaired by the Interior Cabinet Secretary.
This would see the repealing of Article 246 of the National Police Service Commission and replacing it with a new Article establishing the Kenya Police Council that was to be responsible for overall policy coordination of the National Police Service.
The arrangement would have seen the Interior PS becoming the accounting officer of the police with the CS calling the shots.
The direct appointment of a Judiciary Ombudsman by the president sparked public outcry from a section of leaders, including MPs and lawyers, who accused the BBI team of attempting to dilute the independence of the Judiciary.
This they said would see judges live in constant fear of being removed by the President's Ombudsperson if they do not side with the President.
In the new development, the Senate will now have powers to vet the Ombudsperson before appointment by the president.
The removal of the proposal to entrench the Nairobi Metropolitan Services in the Constitution means Nairobi remains a full County as enshrined in the constitution.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has been pushing for the national government to completely take over Nairobi County's core functions through the Building Bridges Initiative.
The BBI had proposed that some functions from Nairobi namely Health, transport, planning, public works and Fire fighting services and disaster management be transferred to the National Government.
This would be done by amending the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution, to provide that the functions and powers therein be transferred to the national government.
"Legislation shall make further provisions on the functions relating to the Nairobi City County to the National Government under the Fourth Schedule," read the report.
Another key adjustment is that political parties will have no role on the appointment of IEBC commissioners.
BBI proposed radical changes that will transform the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission ahead of the next general elections in 2022.
The changes were meant to enhance the capacity of IEBC in order to deliver free and fair elections.
The report proposes to remove all the current commissioners from the office and establish a new team ahead of the 2022 polls.
Raila had said there was little likelihood that new ideas would be pushed into the BBI report.
He said there is significantly little chance of significant new ideas being brought into the BBI document ahead of the referendum.
"...except for editorial work to make it explicit on demands by various groups where it sounds vague or general, as is the case with the issues of pastoralists," he said..
"It is basically done. However, there are groups that feel their views were not captured in the manner they were presented during the collection of views and those are the corrections we are promising to make."