Initiative to reduce our number unfairly targeting us: MPs

Parliament at a past session. Aukot says Kenyans over-represented. [File, Standard]

An initiative to reduce the number of MPs from 416 to 194 came under sharp criticism yesterday after claims it was unfairly targeting Parliament.

Lawmakers questioned why Thirdway Alliance party leader Ekuru Aukot, who is spearheading the Punguza Mzigo campaigns, appeared obsessed with reducing the number of MPs to cut the Government’s wage bill.

They said reducing the MPs alone would not fix the problem, adding that addressing the matter required the country to deal with corruption and check expenditures of the Executive and the counties.

“Doubts have been raised whether doing away with the large number of MPs will reduce the country’s wage bill. Kenyans may just realise the perks of MPs and MCAs are not the real burden that needs to be addressed,” said the National Assembly's Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee chaired by Jeremiah Kioni.

Visited counties

The committee also questioned the source of funding for the initiative after Mr Aukot revealed his team had visited 12 counties and would visit five more this week.

But the 2017 presidential candidate defended the push, saying Kenyans were over-represented.

He said the country would save Sh31.8 billion by slashing the number of lawmakers, and that at least 615,000 registered voters were in support of the initiative.

A popular initiative requires the backing of at least one million registered voters before it is taken for debate in the county assemblies.

“This proposal has come from the majority of Kenyans. It is also factual that Kenyans are 400 per cent over- represented compared to other populous countries in the world,” said Aukot.

"China has 1,200 representatives for a population of 1.4 billion while India, with a population of 1.3 billion, has 800 representatives."

In Kenya, there are 67 senators, 349 MPs and 2,222 MCAs, making it 2,638 representatives against a population of about 46 million.

“It does not make sense therefore that a population of 46 million people from a developing country such as Kenya would sustain 416 representatives in Parliament,” Aukot told the committee.