- New Bill wants IEBC CEO to conduct by-elections in the absence of Commissioners.
- The boundaries review deadline elapsed last month.
Image: FILE
Members of Parliament are in a rush to save at least 27 constituencies facing extinction owing to their low population.
The House's leadership has given priority to two proposed legislations, one of which seeks to ring-fence the constituencies.
The bills, which are yet to be published, are by MPs Alice Ng’ang’a (Thika Town) and Bashir Sheikh (Mandera North).
Ng'ang'a wants the Constitution amended to protect the 27 - and any other currently in breach of the population threshold, during the next review.
Through the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2023, she is seeking to amend Article 89 of the Constitution to protect the affected constituencies.
“This amendment ensures that these constituencies are protected for a minimum of eight and a maximum of 12 years, allowing them to gradually grow their population to meet the threshold,” the Bill reads.
“These constituencies hold significant cultural and developmental value for their inhabitants.”
Ng'ang'a argues that residents have developed attachments with their current constituencies and any changes might cause tension.
The boundary review was to be conducted in March last year, 12 years after the last exercise took place.
IEBC is required by law to review the names and boundaries of constituencies after not less than eight years and not more than 12 years.
During the review, the electoral agency is to confirm that the units meet the population threshold.
The quota is obtained by dividing the country’s population by the number of constituencies.
In 2012, the population threshold stood at 164,000, which the 27 constituencies did not meet.
They were, however, protected in the last review, but not in the second review – whose timeline is in uncharted waters.
The constituencies are Voi, Wundanyi, Mwatate, Galole, Bura, Isiolo South, Samburu East, Laisamis, North Horr, Saku, Kilome, Mukurweini, Mbeere North, Mathioya and Ndaragwa.
Others are Budalang’, Vihiga, Othaya, Mathioya, Kangema, Marakwet East, Keiyo North, Tetu, Mogotio, Lamu East, Lamu West, and Mvita.
According to the law, constituencies that fail to meet the threshold should be merged, setting the stage for a major shakeup should the review materialise.
Constituencies are viewed as focal point for the allocation of development resources and recruitment by various government agencies.
Constitutional lawyers, however, say the answer to whether the units have no legal standing rests with the courts.
Bobby Mkangi, a member of the committee of experts that midwifed the constitution, said the constituencies ‘may be out of the legal bounds’ but continue to exist.
“On paper, they are out of the bounds of the legal text, in the face of the timelines. There is the need for the guidance of the courts to declare whether they are legal entities per se,” he said.
Mkangi told the Star on the phone on Tuesday that the constituencies should continue to exist until a proper review is conducted.
Bashir on the other hand wants the supreme law changed to allow the IEBC CEO (Hussein Marjan) perform some functions such as by-elections.
He wants to cure a situation that has seen IEBC activities come to a standstill whenever there is a vacancy.
His Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2023, seeks to give the commission’s CEO enhanced powers to oversee by-elections.
The proposal is a complete departure from the current system where only the commissioners have the mandate to oversee all elections.
The absence of commissioners has also stalled the review of boundaries and the National Dialogue Committee which was to resolve the debacle is not looking up either.
The current law has precipitated a crisis where by-elections have not been held in Banisa constituency and a number of wards for months.
It is this quagmire that Bashir’s Bill is trying to cure.
“The Bill seeks to ensure that where the commission is not constituted, secretary to the commission can perform the functions of the commission limited to the conduct of a by-election,” the Bill says.
To mitigate the crisis, which has delayed a by-election in Banisa, Parliament has swung into action and give the proposal an ear.
The aim is to have the legislative proposals make significant progress before MPs go for the next recess – after budget reading.
On Tuesday, the National Assembly House Business Committee slotted time for further debate on the legislation.
“It is notified that today, Tuesday, April 9, the Speaker will accord an opportunity to members to make general comments on the proposals to amend the Constitution,” the order paper reads.