MP Gideon Keter pushes for youth elective posts on the ballot

Nominated Member of Parliament Gideon Keter has come up with a legislative proposal seeking to have the law amended to provide for eight special seats for the youth in the National Assembly.

The first term MP says Article 97(1) of the Constitution provides for a special seat for youth in the Membership of the National Assembly but persons nominated to represent the youth do not adequately represent the large number of youth population in Kenya.

“There is no single youth-serving office in this country that has gotten allocation yet the group are the most under privileged. They are jobless and nobody can help them buy food, access medical care and to pay rent in towns,” he said.

Noting that the current constitution has greatly empowered women through creation of more leadership positions and affirmative action funds, Keter says leadership the youth, Keter says the youth who are the majority have nothing to celebrate.

“The youth of this country comprises almost 80 percent of the constitution but they have irrational representation,” he said.

Keter proposes that youth representative seats be included on the ballot so as to have youth MPs to represent the youth issues country-wide.

Article 97(1) of the Constitution provides that 12 members shall be nominated by parliamentary political parties according to their proportion of members of the national assembly.

“My leader of Majority Hon. Aden Duale is now pushing for more women in the National Assembly. This is a great commitment to women agenda. We also expect him to give the same effort to our youth legislative proposal” he said.

Meanwhile, Duale has proposed an amendment bill set to be discussed next week Tuesday that seeks to increase special nomination slots dedicated to women and awarded to political parties as per their strengths in Parliament.

The proposal will see the number of MPs in the House rise from 349 to 391 while that of senators will increase from the current 67 to 71.