Secrets of Naivasha deal unraveled

• DRAFT LAW: Intense political horse-trading and threats of walkouts by some MPs characterised the 11-day retreat that has raised the hopes of Kenya writing a new constitution

The secret deals that MPs made to craft a draft law agreeable to different party and individual interests in the Naivasha retreat can be revealed.

Interviews with a cross-section of MPs in the 26-member Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) painted a picture of talks characterised by intense political horse-trading culminating in the agreement struck at the end of the 11-day retreat at the Great Rift Valley Lodge.

At one point, a section of MPs mainly from the Party of National Unity (PNU) threatened to walk out of the talks following heated debate on the formula for creating additional constituencies, the Sunday Nation was told.

It took the efforts of the PSC chairman, Mandera Central MP Abdikadir Mohammed and interventions at various points by cabinet ministers Musalia Mudavadi, William Ruto, Uhuru Kenyatta and Moses Wetangula to save the talks from collapse.

Deal-breakers

Apart from representation, the chapters on the Executive, devolution and national security almost proved deal-breakers with members employing brinkmanship and last-minute interventions to save the process.

Trouble, the Sunday Nation learnt, started on Tuesday evening when a majority of MPs at the retreat shot down demands by some MPs to have densely populated areas get more constituencies while less populated ones would get fewer constituencies. This would have seen the number of new constituencies shoot up by over 100.

The MPs mainly from the PNU side insisted that Nairobi should have at least 25 constituencies, up from the current eight, a proposal that was rejected by the majority of the PSC members, prompting the proponents of this line of argument to threaten a walk-out.

New constituencies

The ODM side had maintained that the number of new constituencies be kept as low as possible so that they don’t become a burden to Kenyans.

To resolve the rift, the session agreed to set up a sub-committee of 10 members, with both ODM and PNU nominating four members each in addition to the chair, Mr Mohammed and his deputy, Budalangi MP Ababu Namwamba.

ODM nominated Mr Mudavadi, Mr Ruto, Lands minister James Orengo and his Tourism counterpart Najib Balala while PNU picked Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Gichugu MP Martha Karua, Ndaragwa’s Jeremiah Kioni and Turkana Central MP Ekwee Ethuro.

In the end, the talks were saved by the more moderate members on both sides and what members described as the tireless efforts of Mr Mohammed.

“It is true some of our colleagues almost boycotted the talks because we could not agree on the number of constituencies to be created but the matter was amicably resolved,” Mr Ruto told the Sunday Nation.

Mr Mudavadi praised MPs for finding common ground.