Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka on Thursday said he will gazette another special sitting next week to allow as many members as possible to contribute to the BBI bill.
Lusaka had gazetted Wednesday and Thursday for members to debate and vote on the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
However, he said senators have expressed interest in contributing to the debate thus the decision to convene another sitting.
“I will gazette another Special Sitting next week so that everybody can get a chance to speak before we vote,” the Speaker said.
On Wednesday, the legislators rejected a motion by deputy majority leader Farhiya Ali to limit to 10 minutes time allocated to every member to contribute to the bill save for majority and minority leaders.
As a result, each member now has 20 minutes with majority and minority leaders allocated one hour each to debate.
The legislators are on recess but were recalled to debate and take a vote on the bill to beat the referendum timeline set by promoters of the bill.
On Thursday, the debate was heated with the legislators pushing for the amendment of the bill to ‘correct errors and remove unconstitutional clauses.’
Kitui Senator Enock Wambua said it was absurd that legislators are being told they “cannot amend a Bill that seeks to amend the Constitution”.
He said as much as leaders want to change the Constitution, they must reflect on the needs and aspirations of Kenyans.
“The Bill denies my county an extra constituency. We have 40 new constituencies in Mt Kenya. I have no problem with that. However, the 40 is out of the 70 that will be created so the rest of the country will share 30,” he stated.
He said there seems to be mischief in allocating constituencies in certain areas of the country to the country while denying others.
“How I pray that this country well be left a lot more united than when we started. I hope there will be an opportunity to move amendments so that we can pass this Bill,” added Wambua.
He further said the Constitution should not be amended to reduce powers of one arm of the government and enrich the other.
“Kenyans are watching us. They want to see what we are going to with this Billl to make their lives better,” he stated.
