A section of MPs from President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) have vowed to shoot down the Bill that seeks to increase the terms for elected leaders to seven years, once it lands on the floor of the National Assembly.

Addressing a news conference yesterday, the lawmakers told Nandi senator Samson Cherargei, who is the owner of the Constitutional (Amendment) Bill to withdraw the proposals as they will fail should they proceed to the floor of the House.

MPs Rindikiri Mugambi (Buuri), Jane Kagiri (Laikipia County), Githinji Gichimu (Gichugu), Marwa Kitayama (Kuria East), Julius Taitumu (Igembe North), Lillian Siyoi (Transnzoia county) and Reuben Kiborek(Mogotio) said those pushing or the passage of the Bill are doing so for their own selfish interests.

While insisting that for such a law to pass will require a referendum, the lawmakers clarified that the bill is not an Executive Bill but a Private Members Bill, which should be treated as such.

Kagiri and Kiborek said as lawmakers they are interested in addressing issues facing Kenyans not passing a Bill to extend their timelines.

Gichimu warned that the Bill will fail should it come to the National Assembly as lawmakers are not interested in dealing with such issues.

“If it passes the Senate and it comes to the National Assembly, I want to confirm that after consultation with MPs, it will be dead on arrival. it will not see the light of the day. It will fall,” Gichimu insisted.

Their sentiments come just a day after Raila Odinga’s party Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) also opposed the Bill on grounds that it is not only unconstitutional but also untenable.

ODM Executive Director Oduor Ong’wen in a statement to newsrooms told the Senate to reject this Bill and uphold the principles of good governance, the rule of law and the constitutional requirement for genuine public participation through a public referendum.

Ong’wen argued that while constitution mandates that such amendments require at least 20 per cent voter participation in half of all counties and a simple majority support in the referendum, the proposed amendment seeks to bypass these crucial constitutional safeguards thus circumventing proper constitutional procedures

“This attempt to circumvent proper constitutional procedures threatens the very foundation of our democracy, undermines sovereignty of the people, and goes against the principle of public participation. We, therefore, urge the Senate to reject this Bill and uphold the principles of good governance, the rule of law and the constitutional requirement for genuine public participation through a public referendum,” the statement read.

The sentiments by the lawmakers came hardly days after the Senate announced that its email system had crashed following a high number of views received from Kenyans over the proposal to extend the presidential term limit, as well as those of other elected leaders to seven years.

Other proposals

The Senate, which conducted public participation for the Bill on Friday said it had received over 200,000 submissions from Kenyans.
The window for public participation for the controversial bill closed on Friday.

“Thank you for the overwhelming response to The Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) (No 2) Bill, 2024. Due to high volumes of submissions, our email system has temporarily experienced issues. The Senate received over 200,000 submissions, reaching the maximum capacity of the allocated email addresses,” the Senate said in a statement.

The Cherargei Bill also seeks to amend Articles 101, 177 and 180 of the Constitution to extend the terms of MPs, senators, MCAs and governors to seven years.

The Bill also seeks to create the office of the Prime Minister similar to the proposals contained in the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO) and the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) reports.

It also seeks to give the president the powers to appoint the Prime Minister from among the members of Parliament. The Prime Minister shall be the leader of the largest party or coalition of parties in Parliament.

Further it seeks to enhance the powers of the Senate by giving it the exclusive mandate to vet some state officers. The bill also seeks to give the senate the powers to vet and approve for appointment Cabinet secretaries, the Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Chief Justice and judges.