A bid by Kiminini MP Chris Wamalwa to move the election date from August to December flopped in the National Assembly after he failed the required threshold of 233 MPs.
Immediately after the vote, Dr Wamalwa called for an amendment of the clause, saying requiring one to have 233 of the House’s 349 MPs to amend the Constitution was making it impossible to amend the supreme law.
“The ultimate measure of a leader is in decision making. Whatever we did today is a demonstration of commitment by the members. To raise two- thirds is not an easy task but it is not the end of everything. We should revisit the issue of two- thirds majority,” Dr Wamalwa said.
But his proposal will also require another 233 MPs to lower the constitutional threshold.
Dr Wamalwa’s Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) bill 2017, sought to move the election date from the second Tuesday of August to the third Monday of December every election year.
But the bill flopped even before the actual voting could take place after a quorum hitch.
The Kiminini legislator could not mobilise at least the mandatory 233 MPs, which is the minimum number required in the House for any constitutional amendment or consideration of a presidential memorandum.
“The house cannot vote on the motion and therefore the bill is defeated,” Speaker Justin Muturi announced after the electronic and manual determination of the roll-call.
At the time, only 187 members were in the House. Unlike in September when the consideration of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s memorandum on Finance Bill was disrupted by chaos, Wednesday’s business was peaceful and orderly.
The change in the election date would have automatically touched on the term of office of the President, which requires a referendum.
Dr Wamalwa’s amendments affect articles 101, election of Senators and Members of the National Assembly, 136 on the presidential election, 177 on MCAs and 180 on county governors.
The Kiminini legislator wanted the date changed because it affects the national examinations citing the possibility of a presidential election run-off where it would spill beyond the August date thereby affecting the KCPE and KCSE examinations, which start in October and November respectively.
Should the loser in a presidential election file a petition in the Supreme Court, it would have to be decided within 14 days, and the election held in 30 days should the Judges order a rerun.
In 2017, the education calendar was adversely affected after the Supreme Court nullified the re-election of President Kenyatta putting the country into another heated election mood.
The MP had also cited the prospect of messing up with the tourism sector and the budget making process.
He said that the budget making process was affected when the election was held in August 2017, forcing Kenya to go against the East African Community (EAC) protocol by having her budget in March.
The protocol provides that the EAC member states’ budgets be read on the same day- second week of June.
Dr Wamalwa also noted that the tourism season is usually at its peak during August and would suffer if the date remains as it is.
He said the election cycle in Kenya is associated with violence, and feared that it was likely to put tourists away.
Leader of Majority Aden Duale said he was ready to oppose the date because the drafters of the constitution were not wrong to fix the date in December even as he accused Dr Wamalwa of failing to mobilise his colleagues.
“To pass such a bill is about how you raise the numbers. But there were some of us who were ready to vote ‘NO’ because we were not convinced,” Mr Duale said adding; “for you want to survive with such a bill, you must speak to the majority and minority leader but Wamalwa never came to my office, he never engaged me.”
“He thought that he could pass this bill with just 12 MPs but he has realised that it is difficult,” he said in jest in reference to the number of Ford Kenya MPs in the House where Dr Wamalwa is a member.
Similarly, leader of minority John Mbadi had planned to oppose the changes saying; “I could not agree with the spirit of this bill.”
Dr Wamalwa’s proposal was the third after a similar amendment by former Ugenya MP David Ochieng’ flopped twice in 2014 and 2015 through a technicality- quorum hitch.
Majority of the MPs in the former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Cord occasioned the failure arguing that supporting it was akin to extending president Kenyatta’s term in office.