Ekuru Aukot says Kenya has lazy politicians

Thirdway Alliance Party leader Ekuru Aukot has slammed the current crop of Kenyan leaders, terming them as lazy politicians who do not participate in constructive Parliament sessions.

Appearing on Citizen Extra with Waihiga Mwaura on Monday morning, Aukot further dismissed the Kenyan Parliament, saying it “has lost its glory” and become “a theater for political theatrics.”

The former presidential aspirant now wants the Constitution to be amended to reduce the number of MPs from 416 to 194, saying Parliament has become like a marketplace as “there is no order.”

Through a referendum bill titled, Punguza Mizigo, Aukot claims the Kenyan Parliament is bloated and over-represented and that there is need to strengthen the Senate as well as redress the inequality against women and reduce the huge cost of running parliament.

He also wants each county to be reduced into a single constituency and each county to elect one woman and man to both the National Assembly and the Senate.

Punguza Mizigo also seeks to have the National Assembly set aside six nominated seats from Special Interest Groups.

“We want to have a professional and efficient Parliament that will not go there and play party politics… want people that will tell the President of Kenya ‘thank you for your opinion, but this is not what our people sent us here to do.’ We want a working Parliament, a serious Parliament,” he said.

Aukot also rubbished claims that he was only seeking political relevance with the referendum, saying his party is playing the role of the opposition.

He added that the Punguza Mizigo motion would reduce the government expenditure from Ksh.32 billion to Ksh.5 billion, hence saving Kenyans Ksh.27 billion.

“I wish many other political parties would join us and say how do we redirect this money to ensuring, for example, people in counties that do not have water can have water?”