MPs fault IEBC boundary report
The MP with the largest constituency in the country, Mr Chachu Ganya, on Friday said he will contest the finding by the electoral commission that North Horr did not meet the threshold to be sub-divided into additional constituencies.
“It is dishonest for them to ignore our grievances. We find ourselves in such a situation because of historical manipulation of constituency boundaries. Yes, they created five wards, but the size of the wards, some are the equivalent of Western or Nyanza provinces,” the North Horr MP said.
The residents had asked the commission to split the constituency into either three or two. They had proposed Chalbi East, Chalbi North and Chalbi West for the triple split, and North Horr and Chalbi East for the dual split.
North Horr has an estimated are of 38,000 square kilometres and about 75,000 people. North Horr, in terms of area, is a combination of Central, Nyanza and Nairobi provinces put together.
The population density is two people per square kilometre according to the Independent Elections and Boundary Commission (IEBC).
“I will make my case. If the worst comes to the worst, we’ll just have to go to court,” Mr Ganya told the Daily Nation.
The MP denied that his quest for a split had anything to do with creating a political enclave where he’d reign supreme.
“As we speak, I don’t have an opponent on the ground. The person I ousted is going for the seat of governor of Marsabit County. I might be there today, but tomorrow I will not be there. I am fighting for my people. Anyone who sees a hidden hand in this is speaking nonsense,” said Mr Ganya.
Mr John Mututho of Naivasha, also insisted that Naivasha ought to have been split into three and not the two constituencies as had been done by the IEBC.
Naivasha was split into Gilgil and Naivasha.
The constituents said the split had granted Mr Mututho a semblance of political fiefdom in Naivasha while his main opponent Jayne Kihara had a stronghold in Gilgil.
But Mr Mututho told the Nation that the focus on constituencies should now turn to counties.
“Even if we have twenty constituencies, we still have to find a way of how to build it, because that’s what we need to do. Power has shifted,” said Mr Mututho who has expressed his interest in being a governor.
The two MPs spoke just a day after the IEBC handed in its report to the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee.
The Acting chairman of the House Committee, Mr Njoroge Baiya (Githunguri) has already told the public that the House was ready to listen to any grievances. The MPs gave the public until Friday next week to submit their views on the revised report.
The report will be with the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, which will review it and propose amendments. The proposed amendments plus the report of the IEBC will be with the committee for a maximum of 14 days.
The countdown to the committee deadline began on Friday.
As soon as the report is tabled, Parliament will propose amendments to the committee report, or simply debate and approve it, send it back to the commission. The House will have a maximum of seven days to do this.
The IEBC will then have the liberty to go through the changes proposed from Parliament and decide whether to accept or reject them.
After that, the final report will be published in the Kenya Gazette or in two newspapers of national circulation. Under the law, it is only then, that anyone with unaddressed grievances will be free to go to court to object to the rejection of the report.
All grievances have to be filed in the court within a month of publication of the official report.
If the matter ends up in court, the court will have to hear and determine it within a month.
