Aukot's Bill leaves gaps on representation
SEE ALSO :Counties are rejecting Aukot's Punguza Mizigo, what does it mean?
Additional six Special Interest Groups (SIGs) nominated to the National Assembly, brings the number of parliamentarians to 147, down from the current 416. According to Aukot this would bring down cost of running Parliament to Sh5 billion a year from the current Sh35 billion. The second defining feature is elevation of the current 1,450 wards to centres of resource allocation and service delivery “to bring resources to the people’s doorsteps.” Aukot also proposes scaling up sharable revenue allocations to 35 per cent from 15 per cent criteria. This in essence captures the “Punguza Mizigo” theme of the Bill. However, Parliament is manifestation of the collective expression of the will of the Kenyan people, making proportional representation fundamental.For More of This and Other Stories, Grab Your Copy of the Standard Newspaper.
The Bill is silent on proportional representation in all clauses contained in the 17-page document. This is a fatal gap. The Bill of Rights states in part: 19-(1) The Bill of Rights is an integral part of Kenya’s democratic state and is the framework for social, economic and cultural policies. (2) The purpose of recognising and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms is to preserve the dignity of individuals and communities and to promote social justice and the realisation of the potential of all human beings.SEE ALSO :Punguza Mizigo Bill flops after failing to meet constitutional threshold
This central constitutional pillar implies that human rights and fundamental freedoms are about individuals and communities, not geographical space or features. Proportional representation is the manifestation, expression and fulfillment of these rights and freedoms. This is mischief for a lawyer of Dr Aukot’s calibre, education and experience as former CEO of the Committee of Experts (COE) that drafted the documents he seeks to amend, to make such drastic proposals to alter fundamental representation principles without reference to proportional representation. By neglecting to spell out how counties and wards (Geography) as the sole units for parliamentary representation and resource allocation will attend to proportional representation, Aukot’s Bill in effect overturns the one-man-one-vote democratic principle to replace it with one-acre-one-vote. Supposing his proposed Bill were to pass as drafted, who would be represented by the 94 MPs in the National Assembly and the 47 senators? What about minorities inside those units? Besides the aspiration to promote national reconciliation, there was no legal obligation to preserve the 27 special constituencies. Coming from a minority community, Aukot should be more sensitive about the nuances of constitutional making than seeking to orchestrate a crisis between minority groups and dominant groups in Parliament and county assemblies. Aukot should heed the counsel of former chair of Minorities Caucus at the Bomas of Kenya constitutional conference, Joseph Nyaga, who has said political tact calls for dialogue and harmonisation between Punguza Mizigo and the Building Bridges Initiative.SEE ALSO :Punguza Mizigo officially dead
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