Financial and electoral reforms dominate BBI

Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) advisory task force led by Chairman Senator Yusuf Haji (L) chats with National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi after their meeting at Parliament. [Boniface Okendo/Standard]

Electoral reforms, tougher measures against graft and more money for counties were among proposals submitted to the Building Bridges Initiative team in Nairobi, yesterday.

Speaker of the National Assembly Justin Muturi called for electoral reforms to address legislative challenges facing the country.

“Elections have not taken the country in the right direction," he said.

The Speaker called for promotion of political parties as opposed to individuals, stating that this would enhance unity.

“We need a stronger party system where elections are held along political party lines and not personalities. We can also debate whether we can have governors not elected but nominated and vetted by their parties and given the job,” he said.

Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) chairperson Jane Kiringai called for the amendment of the Constitution to give the commission more powers in the management of devolution.

The commission is also calling for severe punishment for perpetrators of corruption.

Equitable revenue

Proposing an increment of equitable share of revenue from the current 15 per cent to 20 per cent, the commission wants to play a greater role in the way monies are shared out. It also called for the increment of the equalisation fund, saying the current 0.5 per cent was too little.

Former Constitution of Kenya Review Commission chairman Yash Pal Ghai said full implementation of the current Constitution would solve most of the problems the country faced.

“The only challenge is that we have left it all to politicians and police,” he said.

Praxedes Tororei of the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) called for more training of police on public order management.

“Police don’t handle public demonstrations well. We need a policy on this so that we can have peaceful demonstrations where lives and property are not lost,” she said.

She also called for better record management and modernisation of police stations.

Bernard Mogesa of Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) called for electoral reforms and respect for human rights.

“Let us enforce the law on election campaign financing and the fact that elections should not be used to perpetuate human rights violations," said Dr Mogesa.