Jubilee Member Drafts Bill To Remove Four Nyanza Counties From Kenya

Makodingo’s Bill – A Jubilee Party member has drafted a Bill seeking to remove twenty-seven constituencies in four Nyanza counties from the Republic of Kenya while creating a new county called Kuria.

Washington Makodingo, a perceived Jubilee strategist, controversial political analyst, and self-acclaimed policy expert has turned a few heads arguing in the Bill that the four counties of Siaya, Kisumu, Homa Bay and Migori had been agitating to be excluded from the territory of Kenya.

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He said their agitation can be seen through their refusal to exercise their constitutional right to vote in the repeat elections at the request of opposition alliance leader Raila Odinga.

“The residents of these constituencies have continuously expressed their wish to be excluded from the territory of Kenya. The objective of this Bill is, therefore, to amend the Constitution to grant these residents their wish by excluding them from the territory of the Republic of Kenya,” reads part of the bill.

The Bill further proposes the retention of Kuria West and Kuria East in the current Migori County, to form part of the new county to be created called Kuria, and the movement of the North West ward in Kisumu West Constituency to Vihiga County.

By doing so, the number of constituencies in Kenya would be reduced to 263, and the number of counties to 44.

The National Assembly will then be composed of 263 MPs from constituencies, 44 women selected from the counties, and 12 nominated members.

The Senate membership, the bill argues, should be amended to have 44 senators elected from each of the counties, 16 nominated women, two representing the youth, and two others representing persons with disability.

“Every person who was a citizen immediately before the effective date retains the same citizenship status as of that date except for citizens who, within ninety days of the effective date, choose to renounce their citizenship owing to their former counties no longer being within the territory of Kenya,” the Bill states.

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Makodingo’s Bill comes just a day after Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma presented a secession Bill to the IEBC.

Kaluma wants all counties in Kenya apart from the Central Kenya counties of Nyeri, Murang’a, Kiambu, Kirinyaga, Nyandarua, Embu, and Tharaka Nithi, to break away. He alleges that there has been continuous discrimination by successive governments against the remaining 40 counties.

How Makodingo’s Bill Can Be Passed

Makodingo’s Bill can be passed either through a parliamentary initiative, where two-thirds of each House support it, or through the popular initiative of collecting one million signatures or presenting the Bill to the 47 county assemblies of which 24 of them must ratify it, and then presenting it before Parliament.

And if any of the two Houses fail to pass it, the Bill will be subjected to a referendum where a simple majority will take the day.