• Mudavadi praised the protection of devolution, removal of the Police council, giving Senate more powers among others.
• Mudavadi said with the new document it is clear that all the concerns that were raised did not fall on deaf ears.
Amani National Congress now says it will fully support the referendum bill proposed through the Building Bridges Initiative.
Amani National Congress now says it will fully support the referendum bill proposed through the Building Bridges Initiative.
Party leader Musalia Mudavadi on Thursday said the party had gone through the final document and concluded it is good as it has addressed most of the issues that had been raised.
Mudavadi praised the protection of devolution, removal of the Police council, giving Senate more powers among others.
As a result, he said ANC will form its own platform to popularise the document.
“We want to address Kenyans without creating an opportunity for people to hurl insults at others. Kenyans must be given an opportunity to express themselves. We shall therefore unveil our team to you soon,” he said.
Speaking to journalists at ANC headquarters, Mudavadi said the restoration of Nairobi as a county will strengthen devolution.
He said this will give Nairobi residents a chance to vote for the best candidate to champion their needs.
Mudavadi said with the new document it is clear that all the concerns that were raised did not fall on deaf ears.
“We have again taken a detailed study and analysis of the bill and we are satisfied that the bill has been revised edited and realigned to incorporated new proposed amendments, some of which we indeed had proposed,” he said.
Mudavadi said the bill has demonstrated a significant shift from the earlier proposals and for that reason they are encouraged by their insistence and that of many others such as the church that consensus was given a chance.
He said in the earlier proposal, the IEBC commissioners were to be seven out of whom 4 were to appointed by parliamentary political parties.
But in the final document, the proposal had been shelved meaning that the appointment of the commissioners shall remain as currently provided under the present constitution.
“This in our view enhances IEBC’s independence,” Mudavadi said.
With regards to the additional 70 constituencies, Mudavadi said the earlier document had not clearly outlined on how this would be achieved.
According to him, that gave rise to fears that these additional constituencies might be distributed unfairly to give certain regions undue advantage over the rest through a biased representation.
“However, the new document released yesterday is very clear now under a proposed chair due to the multiple-member constituencies have been removed. Instead, the additional 70 constituencies have been mainstreamed as single-member constituencies and have been specifically designated in various counties across the country. So, again, in our view is a positive development,” he said.
Mudavadi said there was no clear provision for gender affirmative action in the National Assembly and the proposal did not guarantee the two-thirds rule, thereby compromising women representation from the critical house where participation in decisions affecting resources takes place.
“The new document, a clear affirmative action for people with disabilities, women and youth has now been created to provide for their needs in the National Assembly that is two men and two women, two youth and special seats to cater for the two-thirds gender rule,” he said.
He said this means that after a general election, the National Assembly will have 360 MPs.
“ If the affirmative criterion will not have been met, political parties will nominate members from among women who contested in the preceding election. Our verdict is that this is progressive in that the nominated MPs shall have shown interest in participating in elective politics, as opposed to the current system, where political party discretion is often abused,” he said.
Mudavadi also said there was no mention or provision of or for leadership within the Senate, hence no clarity.
He said the earlier document never talked about the leadership in the Senate.
But in the final document, Mudavadi said the issue has been clarified and corrected by creating a leader of the majority and the leader of the minority in the Senate.
The document he said further outlines the proper function of the Senate.
“If the Senate was the house from which a bill originated the Speaker of the Senate and not of National Assembly can now refer the bill to the President for the signature ascent, a power that had been denied the Senate,” he said.
Mudavadi said the initial document seemed to be whittling away the powers and the authority and the functions of the Senate so that even a bill originating from the Senate if there was an issue, the speaker of the National Assembly is the one supposed to take it to the president yet the debate took place in the Senate.
He said unlike before, the document now clearly states that the official leader of the opposition and the Prime Minister cannot be from the same political party.
“Basically, the draft that came out of BOMAS was not clear. It was providing for very serious incestuous arrangements. This has now been clarified that you cannot have the Prime Minister and the Leader of Opposition coming from the same party. That was vague,” he said.
Mudavadi said with regards to the appointment of the Judiciary’s Ombudsman, the document had clearly outlined that he would be appointed by the president but vetted by senate.