Constitutional commission accuses AG of delaying Bills

Constitution Implementation Commission (CIC) chair Charles Nyachae has accused the office of the Attorney General of delaying preparation of Constitutional Bills on the two-thirds gender rule ahead of the August 27th deadline.

Nyachae has told Parliament’s Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee (CIOC) that his commission has already approved all the nine pending Constitutional Bills which must be passed by the 27th of this month.

The committee members led by Chair Njoroge Baiya have also accused the AG’s office of delaying the tabling of crucial Bills like the Gender Rule Bill which must be approved by National Assembly by the 27th of this month or Parliament risks dissolution if MPs do not extend the deadline.

However, Solicitor General Njee Muturi, who represented the AG during grilling by the National Assembly, said the pending Constitutional Bills will be ready by the end of this week.

Already, a new bill seeking to create special seats for women for a period of 20 years has been published.

The proposed law that seeks to meet the two thirds gender rule comes less than a month to the August 27th deadline set by the courts to work out a formular for the constitutional requirement.

The formula to achieve this constitutional requirement appears to have largely been agreed upon, with Attorney General Prof Githu Muigai forwarding to the National Assembly the Constitution of Kenya Amendment Bill 2015, which Majority Leader Aden Duale has already published.

The Bill seeks to create special seats that will ensure the gender principle is realized for a period of twenty years starting from the 2017 General Elections.

The Bill further seeks to introduce new clauses in the constitution under articles 97 and 98 to ensure that the special seats are allocated proportionate to the number of seats won by a political party.

Should the amendment pass, those holding special seats will serve a maximum of two terms under the affirmative action clause.

However, there runs the risk of a bloated Parliament, putting the number of MPs at 400.

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kenya CIC attorney general BILLS Charles Nyachae AG AG Githu Muigai

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