AfricaPress-Kenya: Two activists have challenged a proposal in the Building Bridges Initiative to create an additional 70 constituencies.
Justus Juma and Isaac Ogola want the second schedule of the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, which allocates the 70 constituencies to various counties, expunged from the document before it is subjected to a referendum.
In a petition filed at the High Court through lawyer Evans Ogada, the two petitioners argue that the BBI drafters went beyond their mandate in proposing electoral boundaries delimitation, which is a function of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
“There is a procedure of creating new electoral boundaries, which was not followed, and if the proposal are passed, it will be discriminatory against regions that would not be the beneficiaries of the new constituencies,” said Ogada.
Under the BBI’s Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill 2020, Nairobi County will be the biggest beneficiary of the new constituencies with 12. Kiambu will follow with six new constituencies with Nakuru set to get five and Kilifi four.
Mombasa, Kwale, Machakos, Uasin Gishu, Bungoma, Narok and Kajiado will each get three additional constituencies, while Meru, Trans Nzoia, Bomet, Kakamega and Kisumu are to get two each.
The activists claim only IEBC can determine how new constituencies are shared without favouring one region.
The petitioners want a court declaration that the second schedule of Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill 2020 in so far as it purports to create the new constituencies is unconstitutional, illegal and must be expunged before it is subjected to a referendum.
