A joint parliamentary committee tasked with steering the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020 will on Wednesday meet to develop a roadmap for public participation.
The public participation is scheduled for Thursday.
The Justice and Legal Affairs committees of the two houses planned the public engagement following the tabling of the bill.
The bill was formally introduced in the Senate and National Assembly for steering through the next stages by the joint committees.
This is after the speakers of the houses received certificates passage of the bills from more than 24 county assemblies as stipulated in the Constitution.
Senate JLAC committee chairman Okongo Omogeni, who is the co-chair of the joint committees, said tomorrow’s meeting will agree on the modalities, programme and the period the exercise will take.
“We have agreed that we retreat separately and discuss and then meet jointly tomorrow and discuss what each committee has presented then we agree,” Omogeni said.
He added, “We will decide how for how long we can go on Thursday. If we will have a few people seeking to present, then we will finish on Thursday but if they are many, then we will give them time.”
The Nyamira senator said the Constitution requires Parliament to carrying out public participation especially on crucial matters such as the change of the Constitution.
“Courts have ruled that public participation must be qualitative, quantitative and participatory. Our democracy is not just election, but also participatory,” he said.
The chairman rubbished claims that Parliament was considering a bill different from the one that came from the county assemblies.
“We are guided by articles 255, 256 and 257 of the Constitution. We cannot discuss any other thing other than that that came from county assemblies with certificates,” he said.
National Assembly JLAC chair Kigano Muturi said the public participation will extend to Friday because they want to give promoters of the Bill a special day.
The Mathiora MP who is also the co-chair of the joint committee says they will table their report as soon as they conclude the public engagement.
He says Parliament will not amend the Bill because it is a "Wanjiku driven' amendment.