Rift Valley to get lion’s share of seats

The Rift Valley Province will have an additional 25 constituencies if the proposed draft constitution as amended in Naivasha is passed.

This will raise the number of elected MPs in the province to 74 from the current 49. The Interim Independent Boundaries Review Commission will have to create 290 poll areas if the new constitution is passed with the amendments made by MPs in Naivasha.

The proposal to create an additional 80 constituencies has drawn criticism from different quarters with most citing the cost of maintaining the new seats as an issue.

In the proposal, Nairobi will get 11 more constituencies, to bring its tally to 19 while Central province will have a total of 35 constituencies, six more than the current ones. Coast province will get an additional six bringing its new total to 27.

Eastern province will have 12 new constituencies to bring its number of elected MPs to 48 while North Eastern will get four more to bring its new tally to 15. Western Province will get seven new constituencies in addition to the current 24 while Nyanza will get nine more to its current 32.

The PSC said the increase would in the long-run help the country achieve equitable representation in Parliament. The draft prepared in Naivasha indicates that the number of people in a constituency may be greater or lesser than the national population quota by 40 per cent for cities and sparsely populated area and 30 per cent in other areas.

It defines the population quota as to be obtained by dividing the country’s population by 290 constituencies. This means that currently an ideal constituency would have at 138,000 people assuming Kenya has a population of 40 million.

This is the formula that IIBRC chairman Andrew Ligale and his team will be using to draw up the new boundaries. If it were to redraw the boundaries today, the IIBRC would have to retain the current 210 constituencies. The current constitution sets the maximum number of constituencies at 188 and the maximum at 210.

The creation of additional constituencies has turned to be the major issue among Kenyans in the constitutional review. The debate seems to have been ignited by Prime Minister Raila Odinga who indicated that he did not support the creation of more constituencies. Mr Odinga asked the Committee of Experts to review this number of seats as “the number suggested for MPs may be too big for our economy”.

A meeting for PNU MP chaired by deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta in Nairobi on Wednesday was also reported to have been divided over the number of extra constituencies that should be adopted. However, MPs Dujis MP Aden Dualle, Cyrus Jirongo (Lugari), Benjamin Lagat (Ainamoi), Mithika Linturi (Igembe South), and Mohammed Affey (nominated ODM-Kenya) have supported the expansion of the House to 349 members.

Assistant minister Kabando wa Kabando also supported the increase but suggested MPs salaries be cut by half. Mr Kabando said the salaries should also be fully taxed. “Kenya shouldn’t compromise quality, equity and equality in representation, for fear of ability to pay,” Mr Kabando said.

He blamed corruption for poverty and called for an end to impunity by complying with Public Officers and Ethics Act.

Additional reporting by Lucas Barasa