Lawmakers’ joint BBI team engages legal researchers after IEBC protest

 

The planned tabling of a report by the joint parliamentary committee on BBI Bill on Tuesday has been put off after lawmakers sought more time to research on the contentious clauses.

The Star has established that the joint Justice and Legal Affairs Committee that had retreated to write a report returned to the city on Saturday evening without completing the job.

“It is work in progress, we expect to finalise soon,” co-chairman Muturi Kigano (Kangema) told the Star in a message.

The co-chairs were expected to simultaneously table the reports in the Senate and National Assembly on Tuesday when the legislators resume sittings after a short recess.

The legislators are under immense pressure from President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga to pass the bill by March 31, ahead of the planned June referendum.

The panel has sought the services of legal experts to research on some of the controversial submissions, including one by the IEBC, on the delineation of the proposed new 70 constituencies.

“We have not finalised the report. It is unlikely that we will table the report on Tuesday because the research has not been completed,” Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jr, a member of the committee, told the Star.

Last week’s submission by the Commission to protect its boundary delimitation mandate posed a headache to the committee with members of the panel that comprises top legal minds in the country sharply disagreeing.

Senior counsel Okong’o Omogeni is the co-chair of the committee.  

Siaya senator James Orengo, another senior counsel, Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo, and Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma are also sitting in the joint panel.

The division comes at the time when Raila Odinga ODM's allies have alleged mischief in a plot by President Uhuru Kenyatta’s men to dodge a referendum.

Last week, the Star exclusively reported that Raila's lieutenants have protested that the President’s men, whose backyard stands to get the bulk of the additional seats, are only interested in the additional parliamentary slots.

During public participation on the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020, on Wednesday, IEBC protested the distribution of the proposed additional 70 constituencies.

Chairman Wafula Chebukati said while promotes were right to create the constituencies, they erred in allocating them to various counties.

“In the event that the bill passes as is, it will contradict the existing Articles 88 (4) (c) and 89 of the Constitution thereby presenting possible legal challenges to the delimitation process,” Chebukati said.

Mutula said the team of legal experts, drawn from within and without parliament, are seeking to find out whether the IEBC’s mandate as stipulated in Articles 88 and 89 of the Constitution can override a popular initiative.

“We have to address all the concerns raised by the stakeholders. As legal affairs team of both houses, we have to answer to those concerns,” Mutula, a lawyer by profession, said.

The Senate Minority Chief Whip said they are going to records of the Committee of Experts that drafted the 2010 Constitution to find out their intention in Article 257 of the Constitution.

Article 257 provides for procedures of amending the Constitution by popular initiative – referendum.

The BBI bill has created 70 new constituencies and distributed them among some 28 Constituencies. However, the schedule indicating their distribution is not part of the Bill.   BY THE STAR