Cabinet seeks political solution to boundaries row

The Cabinet has called for a political solution to the controversy over the new constituencies as MPs prepare to meet Wednesday to resolve the row.

A bulletin from the Presidential Press Service (PPS) said the cabinet meeting had directed its sub-committee handling the implementation of the constitution to meet with the Parliamentary committee on Legal Affairs to find solutions to the matter.

"Cabinet today (Tuesday) resolved that there was need for a political solution to the issue of the Independent Boundaries Review Commission. The Cabinet decided that the matter be resolved through consultations between the Executive and Parliament,” the statement noted.

It added that the cabinet meeting, which was chaired by President Kibaki, had emphasised the urgency of the talks between the sub-committee and the parliamentary committee to resolve the boundaries’ saga so that the momentum to implement the new constitution is not lost.

It was, however, not immediately clear when the two teams would meet to discuss the matter. The cabinet ‘s directive came as a caucus of MPs drawn from various political caucus prepared for Wednesday’s meeting to seek ways of resolving the dispute, which is threatening to scuttle the implementation of the new Constitution.

One of the convenors of the MPs’ caucus, Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni said the meeting would scrutinise the various documents on the new constituencies being circulated with a view to determining which one of them is authentic.

Three different lists have so far surfaced detailing the names and boundaries of the new constituencies causing confusion among MPs and the public in general.

The first list, released by the Commission chaired by former Vihiga MP Andrew Ligale two weeks ago contained only the names of new constituencies. The second list is similar to the first one in respect of the names of the new constituencies but also has the boundaries.

The third list, which was circulated to a few journalists on Saturday evening by some politicians shows a re-organisation of Nairobi’s constituency boundaries with two new constituencies hived off from Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Lang’ata constituency and Regional Development minister Fred Gumo’s Westlands constituency.

The two new constituencies now fall under Public Health minister Beth Mugo’s Dagoretti constituency and Water assistant minister Ferdinand Waititu’s Embakasi constituency respectively.

Mr Kioni told the Nation that during the two caucus meetings held at a Nairobi hotel on Monday, the MPs were in possession of only one list that contained the names of the new constituencies and wards.

“You need documents which speak for themselves, documents which shows the criteria used to split constituencies or not to split them, the populations of each constituency and all the other relevant details,” said Mr Kioni.

He said the MPs had resolved to meet again Wednesday and establish from IIBRC which is the authentic document so that they could use it as a basis of deliberations aimed at resolving the crisis.

Mr Kioni stated that the MPs will ensure that whatever decision they arrived at is respectful of the new constitution.

“We are going to remain faithful to the provisions of the new constitution so that whatever we come up with is not challenged in courts,” he stated.