BBI report: Kalonzo Musyoka says PM should be powerful

Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka has called for the Prime Minister’s position to have more authority than currently proposed in the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) taskforce report.

The former vice president said that the proposed premier’s position should be as powerful as that of the current Majority Leader and should be open to a member of Parliament not just the National Assembly.

“I would have preferred a situation where the prime minister has some authority. I don’t know why the taskforce was so mean on the position,” said Mr Musyoka.

He also stated that the report should have been explicit on the relationship between the Senate and the National Assembly by defining the same. He said he had also hoped the taskforce would address the issue of party hopping to bring about political discipline.

Mr Musyoka, however, lauded the proposals on the media being given primacy in the fight against corruption and rewarding whistleblowers, although he was against a measurable reward.

He also supported the gender parity proposals but differed with those calling for the president and the deputy to be of opposite gender, like in the case of the governors.