Thika Town MP Alice Nganga Drafts Bill To Prevent Scrapping Of 67 Constituencies During Boundaries Review

 

Thika Town Member of Parliament Alice Ng’ang’a has drafted a bill to ring fence at least 67 constituencies from being scrapped in impending boundaries review by the Independent electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC)

Speaking in Gatundu North constituency Kiambu county MP Alice Ng’ang’a stated that the  bill tabled before parliament seeks to protect those constituencies from being disbanded.

According to her, scrapping the constituencies protected by the law will deny people living in the said constituencies’ development from National government and representation.

“People living in the said areas will lack development projects if the constituencies are disbanded, they will also lose representation in parliament,” she said.

She however highlighted the need for highly populated constituencies in Kiambu county such as Thika, Juja and Ruiru constituencies to be split out in order to get new representation.

“Both Thika, Juja and Ruiru constituencies are densely populated, and they should be divided to acquire new representation,” she stated.

Appearing before the National Dialogue Committee on bi partisan talks, the IEBC which is responsible for the demarcation of electoral boundaries guided by population and other considerations set out in law told the 10 member committee that it will be nearly impossible to conclude the delimitation process on new boundaries by March 2024.

IEBC Chief executive officer Marjan Husein, while presenting the commission submissions before the dialogue committee sought extension of the deadline for boundaries delimitation process slated for March next year.

“Delays in recruiting new commissioners had hampered the constitutional process, and that the commission would require 18 months to conclude the process after new commissioners have been appointed,” Marjan said.

According to Article 89 (5) of the Constitution, constituency boundaries are such that the number of inhabitants in the constituency is as nearly as possible to the population quota.

Article 89 of the Constitution requires IEBC to review names and boundaries of electoral areas at intervals of not less than eight years and not more than 12 years.

The commission currently is left with only 6 months to undertake the boundary delimitation exercise.   BY CAPITAL  NEWS