Tiaty MP Asman Kamama who is the chairman of the Initiative said this will save the country close to Sh24 billion and avoid polarizing the country/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 18 – The Jubilee Coalition-backed ‘Boresha Katiba’ Initiative says it is advocating for the referendum to amend the Constitution held alongside the August 2017 General Election.
Tiaty MP Asman Kamama who is the chairman of the Initiative said this will save the country close to Sh24 billion and avoid polarizing the country.
Kamama said they would not allow CORD to put the country in an early election mode with their Okoa Kenya push for a referendum, arguing it could subject the country to instability.
“By combining the General Election and the Referendum in 2017 the country will benefit because we avoid unnecessary tension, divisions and backlash and therefore it does not disrupt economic activities in the country because once you go to an election, as you know, we usually forget everything and focus on the elections or the referendum,” he said.
Kamama said they had garnered the support of 185 legislators and had therefore asked the Speaker of the National Assembly to assist the group.
“We will be expecting the leadership of Parliament of Kenya to facilitate this group in terms of meeting rooms, clerical assistance so that it is really a parliamentary initiative that is ring-fenced so that we do not have a lot of external or executive interference,” Kabando told journalists.
The Jubilee side highlighted drastic proposals for its referendum, majoring on points that have attracted negative publicity for the ruling coalition. For instance, in countering runaway corruption, Boresha Katiba proposes death sentence for graft convicts and drug traffickers.
They also want devolved funds to the counties increased to 46 percent up from 15 percent, which is one point higher than what CORD proposes.
Boresha Katiba seeks to have Cabinet Secretaries appointed from within Parliament, like in the old order, as well as have the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) increased from 2.5 to five percent of national revenue.
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