• Nadco fronted eight amendment Bills and a new Bill.
• The committee will meet next Wednesday to firm up the framework for considering the Bills.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
Kenyans will in the next 45 days know whether they will go to a referendum to change the Constitution to implement the talks team report.
A joint parliamentary committee tasked with considering the amendment Bills by the National Dialogue Committee has said it will propose either a parliamentary route or a referendum to amend the laws.
“We were given 45 days within which to submit the report and this is why we have convened the first meeting this week,” said National Assembly Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC) chairman George Murugara.
“We confirm the two options are available. Parliamentary route and referendum are options.”
Murugara is the co-chair of the joint Senate and National Assembly JLAC committee.
Bomet Senator Hillary Sigei, who chairs the Senate JLAC, co-chairs the joint team.
Addressing journalists after holding their first meeting at KICC on Thursday, the team revealed a roadmap for considering the constitutional amendment Bill and other statutes proposed by Nadco.
“Today, we were dealing with preliminaries. We have just worked on what we are going to do after this, how we are going to hold our meetings, which days and what times,” Murugara said.
Nadco, a bipartisan team that was formed following the political standoff between the opposition and the government, proposed several amendments to the Constitution and the statutes.
Nadco fronted eight amendment Bills and a new Bill.
The two Speakers of Parliament-Moses Wetang'ula (National Assembly) and Amason Kingi (Senate)—have directed that each House publish four Bills.
“The two committees are required to expeditiously consider the proposals to amend the Constitution and recommend to the Houses the manner of actualising the recommendations of the National Dialogue Committee,” Wetang'ula said.
The speakers also directed that the joint JLAC considers the Bills.
“We have also agreed how our paperwork is going to be done so that we do not spend a lot of time on this,” Murugara said.
Sigei said the joint team agreed on a framework on how to bring to implement, the recommendations of the Nadco committee.
The committee will meet next Wednesday to firm up the framework for considering the Bills.
Nadco fronted the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment), Bill, 2023 to anchor various offices, funds and reforms, and to extend the term of the Senate.
The offices include Office of the Prime Minister, Office of the Leader of Opposition and two deputies.
“The Constitution is amended by inserting a new article immediately after Article 151; that there is established office of the Prime Minister,” the Bill states.
The Bill amends articles to create and anchor the Senate Oversight Fund, National Government Affirmative Action Fund and National Government-Constituency Development Fund in the Constitution.
“There is established the Senate Oversight Fund, which shall be a national government fund consisting of monies appropriated from the national government’s share of revenue,” the Bill states.
The Bill amends Article 102 to extend the term of the Senate from five years to seven years.
IEBC (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which among others, proposes changes to the IEBC selection panel and provides procedure for delimitation of the electoral boundaries, is another Bill fronted by the committee.
“The Bill seeks to amend the first schedule to the IEBC No 9 of 2011 to increase the number of members of election panel from seven to nine in order to accommodate a wide spectrum of stakeholders and interest groups,” the Bill states.
Others are Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2023, Elections Offences (Amendment), Bill, 2023 and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023.
Statutory Instruments (Amendments) Bill, 2023, Political Parties (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the National Government Coordination (Amendment) Bill, 2023, have also been drafted.
The committee also drafted Leader of Opposition Bill, 2023.