Audit committee recommends reduction in number of MPs, MCAs

A committee established to audit the social-economic cost of implementing the 2010 Constitution of Kenya has recommended the reduction of the number of Members of Parliament, Members of the County Assembly and the overall legislative representation.

The working group stated that Kenyans are over-represented adding that a reduction in the number of representatives will go a long way in reducing the wage bill.

According to Auditor General, Edward Ouko, the Constitution of Kenya 2010 is prescriptive and ambitious adding that they would give it 3.5 out of 5 in terms of implementation since its inception in 2010.

“Our Constitution is perceptive, maybe for a good reason because we had many issues to deal with in terms of checks and balances. On a scale of 1-5, the Constitution implementation and response to public needs, I would place it 3.5,” he said.

He added: “The cost of implementing the Constitution directly corresponds with the number of people representing Kenyans. The more the numbers the higher the cost.”

The working group recommended that Kenya adopts a Mixed Member proportional representation where a certain number of parliamentary seats will be contested directly in single member constituencies with the rest being shared out based on political parties’ performance to take care of gender, youth, marginalised communities and people living with disabilities.

Another group member, Susan Mang’eni, noted that duplication of roles and overlap are some of the factors that have lagged the implementation of the Constitution, calling for the streaming of structures in county governments to eliminate redundancy.

“The reason why we can’t give the Constitution implementation a 5 out of 5 score is because there is still lots of wastage due to duplication of roles and overlaps. For example, the provincial administration still intact, yet county governments have similar structures up to the ward level,” said Mang’eni.

Lady Justice Linet Ndolo said that the Constitution is good but a lot more needs to be done to make it work.

Prof Karuti Kanyinga said the number of MPs in Kenya is higher compared to the average number in Africa and even higher globally with the number of MCAs, which stands at 2,500, also very high.

He added that the high number of MPs and MCAs is attributable to the system of election present in Kenya with the Senate and Women Representative positions being the least understood by Kenyans.

The committee recommended the retrenchment of excess staff in county governments, with the help of national government, to tame the wage bill.