• BBI promoters expected the IEBC to organise and conduct a referendum within the legal timelines—between April 6 and June 6.
• The team further projected that the bill would be enacted by June 14, efforts that may be curtailed with the escalated containment.
Image: PSCU
The BBI process has been thrown into disarray following President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive suspending parliamentary sittings and in-person meetings.
The President, in heightened measures to contain the spread of Covid-19, suspended until further notice, sittings of the National Assembly, the Senate and county assemblies.
The speakers of Parliament and county assemblies are expected to enforce the decision. Ordinary sessions of the county assemblies of Nairobi, Machakos, Kajiado, Kiambu and Nakuru were also suspended until further notice.
Muturi had already communicated to MPs. "In furtherance of the Proclamation of the President of today (yesterday) asking the House to consider suspending its sittings to curb the spread of Covid-19, you are notified that the House will hold its next sitting on Tuesday, March 30, 2021, at 2.30pm as earlier scheduled to conclude any urgent business and consider a motion to alter its calendar in accordance with the Standing Orders.
"Arrangements will also be made for members to have uninterrupted travel to Parliament. Let us all play our part as national leaders to contain the spread of the virus and keep our beloved nation and its people safe," he said.
All public gatherings and in-person meetings were also suspended within the said counties until further notice, further scuttling campaigns for the BBI—nicknamed reggae.
MPs were set to begin the debate on the BBI from April 1, a plan that may not obtain in the face of the scaled-up containment measures. This is likely to affect the timeline set by the BBI promoters for a referendum by June.
The promoters had projected that Parliament would conclude the debate and vote on the bill by April 5.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission was thus set to organise and conduct a vote within the legal timelines—between April 6 and June 6.
The BBI team further projected that the bill would be enacted by June 14, efforts that may now be curtailed with the escalated containment.
A five-judge bench of the High Court on Friday said a referendum would be inevitable in the implementation of the bill. They ruled that the document would not come into force by a mere presidential assent.
“The assent contemplated under Article 256(4) of the Constitution, if it were to be given to the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020, shall not come into force until the determination of this consolidated petitions,” the court ruled.
This was in a case in which Thirdway Alliance had filed an application claiming that they were apprehensive that the BBI bill might not be subjected to a referendum.
The party claimed that there was a high likelihood that the bill would be approved by Parliament and forwarded to the President for assent and publication.
Image: ANDREW KASUKU
Even so, sittings of the joint House Committee of the Justice and Legal Affairs have also been scuttled by Uhuru orders.
President Kenyatta justified the drastic measures saying they would be temporary and necessary, much as they would have adverse effects on the economy.
He said the positivity rate—about 22 per cent—was the highest since the pandemic struck.
The President said the death rate was devastating and the pandemic had placed unparalleled stress on the health system.
“I am convinced that the cost of not acting now would be far greater. As a caring government, it is our solemn duty and cardinal responsibility to protect life above all else. One life lost is one too many [for Kenya],” the President said in his televised address.
The cessation of movement by road, rail, or air into the counties of Nairobi, Kajiado, Machakos, Kiambu and Nakuru also stands to hurt BBI activities.
Uhuru said the move was to avert a national health crisis and was on the advice of the National Security Council, the Council of Governors, and health experts.
The BBI is no stranger to hurdles since the joint parliamentary committee was equally yet to agree on how to treat the bill. MPs had hired consultants to give their views on the contentious issues which saw the debate on the bill fail to take off last Thursday.
Co-chairs of the joint committee Muturi Kigano (Kangema MP) and Okong'o Omogeni (Nyamira senator) said they were to report to the Houses by Wednesday.
The lawmakers said the experts were to assist them in finding answers to the contentious issues bordering on the parliamentary process.
MPs, citing their lack of experience with a bill under a popular initiative, have been grappling with the question of whether or not to amend the Constitution of Kenya Amendment Bill, 2020.
At the heart of the impasse is the manner of apportioning the additional 70 constituencies introduced in the bill.
The IEBC said it was its mandate to delimit boundaries of constituencies, opposing the process proposed in the BBI.
The joint House committees were, however, during a presser at Windsor, unclear on the exact issues on which they want to engage experts.
The MPs told journalists that the details will be known in the final report. "We will burn the midnight oil to ensure we complete the report," Omogeni said.
Apart from the BBI, the restrictions also stand to scuttle campaigns in the Juja MP by-election, being within the zoned infected area.