Uhuru fresh headache as MPs push to amend BBI Bill

President Uhuru Kenyatta is facing a headache over the push to amend the Constitution with his legacy promises at stake if the Building Bridges Initiative report is opened for amendments.

This development comes as the parliamentary joint Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs clashed with MPs over a move to seek more time with at least four sticking issues at the heart of the standoff.

The committee co-chaired by Nyamira Senator Okong'o Mogeni and Kangema MP Muturi Kigano is grappling with whether all the issues in the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020 should go into a referendum.

The committee is also yet to agree on whether there could be a multiple choice referendum, whether Parliament has a role in amending the Bill and whether the IEBC should have the final say on the creation of the 70 new constituencies.

The President has now been thrown into a dilemma with a section of the MPs insisting on amending the BBI Bill to address shortcomings before the Bill goes into a referendum.

The crux of the matter is the spirited push by the President's allies to protect his interests in the Bill. They fear opening it up would open a Pandora box that could mess up some of Uhuru's legacy plans.

The President, who has backed the constitutional amendments, has maintained that the BBI Bill must be approved as a package.

Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu objected to any move to amend the BBI Bill, saying they will reject any such attempt as it would alter the original Bill as approved by county assemblies.

"My opinion is that this Bill is a popular initiative. It can’t be changed by anyone; certainly not Parliament. After it’s been confirmed by IEBC and especially after it’s been passed by the county assemblies it goes as it is to a referendum; to pass or fail,” said Ngunjiri.

Ngunjiri, a key Uhuru ally, insisted that Parliament has no role to sponsor any amendments to the Bill that is currently going through public participation, dimming hopes of proponents of a review.

“What this means is that the Bill going to the referendum is the one that was passed by the counties. We cannot change anything on that Bill because it then means what we take to a referendum is not what IEBC sent to the counties, or what the counties debated and passed,” Ngunjiri said.

Some of the sticking issues in the Bill, including the formula for the distribution of the new 70 constituencies amid concerns of unfairness in allocation, have thrown the President into a dilemma.

Some of the proposals in the BBI Bill were seen as part of the President's long-term plan to reward his restive backyard to assuage disgruntlement and contain rebellion as he retired next year.

For instance, the BBI proposals allocate Mt Kenya region, the President's turf, at least 14 new constituencies with the diaspora county of Nakuru getting five.

With each constituency getting at least Sh100 million in CDF each year, the new constituencies would mean more resources to the grassroots through MPs.

This would be over and above the proposed 35 per cent allocation of the national revenue to the devolved units.

Uhuru has said the constitution amendment proposal popularly, known as the BBI bill currently before a joint Parliamentary committee, should also be taken to the referendum as a whole without possibility of amendments.

However, some of the MPs allied to ODM boss Raila Odinga are said to be quietly pushing for the amendment of the Bill to cure the erroneous distribution of the 70 constituencies that disadvantaged his turf.

Raila Odinga's Luo Nyanza backyard got only a few constituencies with Kisumu, Siaya, Homa Bay and Migori counties bagging only three constituencies.

Raila's turfs have been restless that the 70 constituencies were unfairly distributed to the advantage of the President's backyards and have wanted the BBI bill amended.

Yesterday Raila's allies argued that Parliament's role cannot be ceremonial in the BBI process.

“Nobody in this country should say that the House of Parliament is ceremonial. You cannot have a provision in the Constitution that Parliament is required to conduct its business for ceremonial purposes,” said Siaya Senator James Orengo.

Ruaraka MP Tom Kajwang' maintained that Parliament has a role to play in the BBI process and will stand up to protect that.

“When you come here and say that we are ceremonial this English of ceremonial, that we are just ceremonial, we are just coming here to see how things happen. The same Constitution talks about article 94, 95, 96 then you come here and tell us that we are ceremonial. Ceremonial in which ceremony?” he posed.

“We waited for you to bring this thing before us. Once you have brought it and it is a Bill, we will deal with it as National Assembly. We have a voice of how to deal with this thing... you can’t come and tell us we are ceremonial.”

The pressure from Raila's bastions could have forced his allies to mount a spirited campaign to have the BBI report opened up for amendments to balance the sharing of constituencies.

Some of Raila's allies have been openly calling for the review of the formula even as the ODM leader appeared to run into trouble with his support bases demanding more constituencies.

During the BBI campaign rallies, Raila was forced to falsely promise his supporters in Luo Nyanza, Kisii, Western and Coast regions that they would be considered for additional constituencies.

It has now emerged that the President is in dilemma on how to deal with demands by Raila's men amid fears of an aggressive campaign by the ODM team to have the constituencies dropped for allegedly not being part of the Bill.

In what exposed the heightened intrigues roiling the push to amend the Constitution, Kigano said the issues they were considering are weighty before tabling the report.

“We need a report on the Bill. It was not put in the constitution in vain that there must be public participation. In our case, what we are going to do, is not just to give report, but we must give reasons why we should take these questions to referendum, why we cannot split or severe the issues and why we cannot have multiple questions,” Kigano said.

However, some MPs have taken issue with the committee's move to hire legal experts to advise them on some of the sticky issues.

Speaker Justin Muturi ordered that the report be tabled on April 1.

Fearing losing out on the elective units if the report is amended, the President's men are said to have hatched a plot to push the joint parliamentary committee to make a resolution that the constituencies are not part of the Bill.

The net effect would be that the proposed constituencies will be approved by the House and signed into law by the President, automatically creating more constituencies without the input of the electoral commission.

The President's dilemma and the widening cracks over the fate of the Bill played in Parliament yesterday after Raila's allies protested at a request by the joint parliamentary committee on legal affairs to seek extension of time before tabling its report.