Uhuru, Raila allies clash over new constituencies

Division has rocked a parliamentary team on the BBI Bill after allies of President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM boss Raila Odinga clashed over the proposed new 70 constituencies.

The Star has established that the split has stagnated the work of the joint committee on Justice and Legal Affairs that was tasked to steer the Bill through public participation and table a report in the houses today.

Co-chairs of the committee – Senators Okong'o Mogeni (Nyamira) and Muturi  Kigano (Kangema) - have since sought extension after the factions maintained their hardline stances.

Some committee members leaning towards President Uhuru Kenyatta are keen on the committee adopting the new constituencies as part of the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020.

However, another faction allied to Raila is critical of the proposed elective units, triggering a stalemate in the panel.

The President's men are said to be objecting to an argument by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission that the BBI proposals amount to a constitutional coup on its mandate.

On Monday, Kigano gave a highlight of the belief in the President's camp when he faulted IEBC's position that the Bill can increase constituencies but cannot distribute them.

 "I don't want to pre-empt but we heard what they [IEBC] said. There is a clause in the BBI that ousts their jurisdiction. There is section 6 of the schedule that ousts their jurisdiction as far as the 70 constituencies are concerned,” he said.

IEBC had protested that the clause in the BBI report cannot override the Constitution that donates the boundary delimitation powers to the commission.

IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati, last week, warned the committee that the proposed constituencies face a legal hurdle if the BBI Bill proceeds the way it is.

“In the event that the Bill passes as is, it will contradict the existing Articles 88 (4) (c) and 89 of the Constitution thereby presenting possible legal challenges to the delimitation process,” Chebukati said.

He termed the proposal by the BBI promoters unconstitutional.

There are reports of backstabbing and claims of mischief in the committee after it emerged that Uhuru's Mt Kenya region was poised to be the biggest beneficiary of the proposed electoral units.

However, most of Raila's backyards have protested that they were left out in the allocations, posing a major headache for the ODM leader in his BBI push.

“The truth is that there is division…. it is bad now because we have given the work to our researchers for now, but I can tell you as we approach the end of our work, there will be division,” a senator, who is a member of the committee, told the Star.

Kigano appeared to allude to the cracks in the commission, but was quick to say that nobody will "impose their views on us".

“…. but we have to do a report. We have to include even the dissenting voices. We have to include them in the report and be able to give our observations,” he told the Star.

“We are going to listen to all members but we cannot impose anybody’s views. Let’s us analyse and see,” Kigano, an ally of the President, said.

Insiders say Raila’s men are riding on Chebukati’s submission to scrap the constituency distribution schedule which they claim has favoured the President’s Mt Kenya backyard.

The legislators are questioning the criteria used to distribute the constituencies after the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics and the electoral agency admitted they do not have population distribution data per electoral unit.

ODM national treasurer Timothy Bosire on Monday lifted the lid on the storm in Raila's camp over the controversial constituencies.

Bosire warned that the committee risked usurping the powers of the IEBC if it went ahead to adopt the 70 constituencies in its final report.

"The IEBC has the express mandate as an independent institution and anybody who arrogates himself its powers will be infringing on its mandate," warned Bosire.

He said while the BBI proposals carry the wishes of Kenyans, allocating and distributing constituencies would be an attempt to usurp the mandate of the IEBC.

 "The BBI proposals have gone through all stages and it is likely that they will proceed the way they are, but it touches on the fundamentals of the Constitution that behoves leaders to correct them," he said.

He went on: "Let the issue of delimitation of the boundaries be left to the IEBC and nobody should invade that territory."

Articles 84 (4) (c) and 89 of the Constitution give the IEBC the mandate to delimit constituency boundaries every eight years, but any review shall be completed at least 12 months before a general election.

The commission uses the data per constituency in delineating boundaries. Currently, it is based on a population quota of 132,138 people per legislator.

Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jr admitted the committee faces a headache after IEBC made a multi-faceted submission that raised serious constitutional issues.

According to Mutula, the panel, which has since tasked parliamentary legal officers to research on the commission’s submission, seeks to establish whether the IEBC’s mandate as stipulated in the Constitution can override a popular initiative.

In addition, they want to know the criteria used to create the 70 constituencies and whether the new units will be in place within six months to the polls as proposed in the Bill, if it passes at the referendum.

“We are also supposed to get some information from the former Committee of Experts that drafted the 2010 Constitution on what their intention was on Article 257,” he said.

The article provides for procedures of amending the Constitution by popular initiative.

The BBI Bill has created 70 new constituencies and distributed them among 28 constituencies. However, the schedule indicating their distribution is not part of the Bill.

The BBI Bill designates that the larger Rift Valley will get 23 new constituencies, Nairobi 12, Central 11 and Coast 10.

Kiambu county will get six new constituencies, Nakuru five, Kilifi four, while Uasin Gishu, Narok, Kajiado, Mombasa, Kwale and Bungoma counties will get three each.

Meru, Bomet, Kakamega, Kisumu counties are slated to get two new electoral areas.

Mandera, Embu, Makueni, Kirinyaga, Murang’a, Turkana, West Pokot, Nandi, Laikipia, Siaya and Nyamira have been allocated one each.

Edited by Henry Makori