NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 27 – Maendeleo Chap Chap Leader, Alfred Mutua is proposing that the President, Prime Ministers and their deputies be elected jointly in order to avoid post-election arrangements.
He said he is opposed to a recommendation in the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) that Kenyans continue to elect a President who will remain the Head of State and Government, who will then appoint a Prime Minister from the largest party or coalition in Parliament to be the the Leader of Government Business in the National Assembly.
While presenting his party’s recommendations to the BBI Steering Committee led by Senator Yusuf Haji, the Machakos Governor said “The President, Prime Minister, two deputies and the deputy president. We request that when they are elected, they be elected as a team so that people know, people want to know are we included? This agreements made later on becomes a problem , it is all about serving people ,” he said.
He said that persons running for executive positions should also be allowed to run for legislative posts as was in the previous Constitution.
Appearing before the Haji-led team, he supported BBI’s proposal of formation of regional governments which he said should be granted powers to enter into Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs).
“There is a growing trend of economic blocs which is important and there is need to constitutionalise these regions to attract foreign investments and galvanize resources of larger area,” he said.
Although he wants the current 47 counties retained, Mutua proposed the increase of the equitable share up to 45 percent.
In his submissions, Mutua also noted that the Senate and nominated MCAs positions should be abolished as part of measures to reduce legislative positions.
“ Kenyans feel overburdened by representation, we need to abolish teh Senate and reserve constituencies for women in each county on rotational basis,” Mutua said.
And in order to ensure inclusivity is achieved, the Mutua-led group noted that each county should get a share of ministerial, Principal Secretary, ambassadors and state corporation positions based on their population on ethnic and regional equity.
