Members of Parliament and Senators will have two fixed terms in office if the Bill proposed by Jonah Gachuki is passed by the National Assembly.
The petitioner of the Bill wants MPs, deputy president, speaker of the National Assembly, Speaker of the Senate, deputy governors, and members of the county assemblies to two fixed terms in public office.
In his application to the National Assembly, Gachuki wants the Constitution to be amended in Articles 142 and 180 so that the officers mentioned above have a fixed term in office.
“The petitioner is concerned that the above exemptions are discriminatory,” Speaker Justin Muturi told the House presenting the petition.
“Having determined the matters raised by the petitioner are well within the authority of this House, I order that the petition be committed to the Justice and Legal Affairs committee,” Muturi added as reported by The Standard.
Muturi noted that the justice and Legal Affairs committee is required to consider the petition and give back it’s finding to the Parliament and the petitioner.
The petition has, however, drawn serious opposition in the Parliament with lawmakers claiming that it lacked merit and was a waste of their time.
Responding to the petition, Kiminini M{ Chris Wamalwa noted that though the Constitution allows anyone to petition to Parliament, the constitution has outlined the due process to amend the supreme law.
According to Wamalwa, Gachuki’s petition was misplaced since he needed to collect one million signatures to see the amendments done in the Constitution.
“Wanjiku put it in the constitution on how to amend the provision. I do not doubt that this House will give a response.”
“The petition is misplaced. He needed to collect one million signatures if he seeks to amend Article 102, 148, and 180 just like the BBI promoters,” Wamalwa said.
He further urged the committee not to look into the petition terming it as a waste of time and resources.
While Otiende Amollo, MP for Rarieda said that the Parliament must come up with ways it can deal with unmeritorious as the one presented before them. He further noted that the petition had a factual error on Deputy President’s term limit.
“This is one for summary dismissal. It has a factual error on DP’s terms of office. There are very good reasons why the offices were limited.”
“Even if the committee were to sit, their verdict would not be for this house but the rest of Kenyans,” Amollo said.
The petition comes at a time when the current Parliament is housing about 32 members who are serving more than terms in the MP seats.
