Jump to navigation

Kenya

Parliament sets up roadblocks for Building Bridges law

Challenge to reform bill could derail referendum on constitutional change posing a heavy risk for Odinga

The passing of the bill implementing the recommendations of the Building Bridges Initiative should have been a formality paving the way for a referendum. Instead, several embarrassing setbacks for the 'handshake' duo President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga, have prompted concerns that the project could yet snatch defeat from the jaws of victory (AC Vol 62 No 1, Handshake to face poll test).

Lawmakers in the Senate and National Assembly last week backed a majority report that declared that the BBI's proposal for 70 new constituencies was unconstitutional. Among the report's supporters were several surprising names, including Senator James Orengo, a close ally of former opposition leader and handshake partner Raila Odinga.

That parliamentarians should be uncomfortable about expanding the number of constituencies is unsurprising, but the timing of the rebellion is. It delays the passage of the bill and suggests that the handshake duo do not have the hefty parliamentary majorities that they thought.

David Murathe, vice-chair of Jubilee and staunch ally of President Kenyatta, insists that there is nothing to worry about since MPs cannot unpick or amend the BBI bill. However, the row suggests that both Kenyatta and Odinga face some serious dissent in parliament.

The longer the wait for the BBI referendum, the greater the risk that it becomes wrapped up in next August's presidential elections. The delays in getting the bill through parliament, a process which had been expected to be fast-tracked, means that a referendum on BBI has already been delayed to July, BBI co-chair Junet Mohamed has admitted.

Caleb Kositany, a spokesman for Deputy President William Ruto, says that the row over expanding parliament is the main line of attack for BBI opponents (AC Vol 62 No 5, Jubilee tent gets smaller).

Meanwhile, several county assemblies, which have already approved the BBI bill, have complained of being sent error-filled versions of the BBI report, with typographic errors and counter referencing of non-existent Articles in the BBI, by the already embattled Independent Electoral Commission Board. That could add more complications to decision-making.



Related Articles

Handshake to face poll test

The President’s coalition with his former adversary will be put to the electorate in 2021 against a backdrop of economic pain

After a catastrophic decline in economic performance due to Covid-19 in 2020, aggravated by corruption and wrong-headed fiscal and public debt policies, 2021 promises to be particularly painful...


Turning a corner

Kenya is euphoric again. After barely averting civil war following the 2007 elections, the approval of a new constitution by referendum marks a dramatic turn in the country’s...


Strain in ICC case

The International Criminal Court’s case against Kenyans accused of financing and organising post-election violence finally got underway with the ‘confirmation of charges hearings’ on 1 September – and...


The opposition fall out

Although the government’s record on security and economic management looks shakier by the day, its opponents are divided and floundering

When the opposition alliance, the Coalition for Reform and Democracy, holds its political retreat to map out strategy at the beginning of September, its leaders will struggle to...

READ FOR FREE