The attempt to change Kenya’s Constitution has hit the homestretch after the Referendum Bill, 2020 was tabled in the National Assembly on Tuesday, June 2.
The Bill was prioritised during House business and taken through the first reading, only hours after President Uhuru Kenyatta had given the strongest hint yet that the country is headed for a plebiscite.
The Bill, which sets in motion the enactment of a law to guide a referendum process, has been drafted by the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee and was tabled by the committee’s chairman, Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni.
It seeks to provide a legal framework for the changes, spelling out the procedure, conduct of the actual referendum, and amendments to the Elections Act 2011, which currently provide for the conduct of a referendum.
Article 257 (1) of the Constitution stipulates that an amendment may be proposed by a popular initiative in the form of a general suggestion or a formulated draft bill signed by at least one million registered voters. If enacted into law, the bill will regulate the procedure to amend the Constitution by popular initiative.
Article 257 (1) of the Constitution stipulates that an amendment may be proposed by a popular initiative in the form of a general suggestion or a formulated draft bill signed by at least one million registered voters. If enacted into law, the bill will regulate the procedure to amend the Constitution by popular initiative.
It provides for detailed provisions regulating the procedure under popular initiative, among them the initiation of a referendum, notice of holding a referendum, referendum committees, costs of referendum committee, procedure for conduct of referendum, voting threshold and general powers of the commission.
It also provides a 14-day time frame within which county assemblies must forward their decisions on a popular initiative draft Bill to Parliament for approval.
The draft law does not give a timeframe within which the National Assembly must consider it, leaving it to the discretion of the House Business Committee, the top decision-making organ, to slot it in House business.
The tabling of the Bill paved the way for the Speaker to refer it back to the Kioni-led committee for public participation, a move that will culminate in the presentation of a report to the House for debate.
While the draft law seeks to have a referendum held on the same day as the 2022 election, it is open for amendments during the third reading.
Once the Bill is passed by the National Assembly, it will be sent to the Senate for concurrence as required by the Constitution. During his 57th Madaraka Day address at State House, Nairobi, President Kenyatta made it clear that a constitutional review process was inevitable, although he gave no timelines.
He said he wanted a Constitution that will ensure inclusivity and end the cycles of violence that have characterised all elections in the country since 1992.
“We cannot re-imagine our nationhood without changing our political architecture. And we cannot change this architecture without re-engineering our Constitution,” he stated. Kenyatta’s handshake partner, opposition leader Raila Odinga, last month said a referendum will be held before end of the year.
