Kuria East MP Kitayama Proposes Increasing Counties from 47 to 52

Kuria East MP Marwa Kitayama wants to table a Bill in the National Assembly amending the constitution.

The Bill proposes a bump in the number of counties from the current 47 to 52.

The legislator has written a notice to Speaker Moses Wetangula.

He explained that should the Bill sail through, new counties of Kuria County, be carved from Migori County, Teso County from Busia County, East Pokot County from Baringo County, and Mount Elgon County which should be hived off from Bungoma and Trans Nzoia Counties.

Read: Jubilee Demands Information from IEBC As It Plans to Contest Election Results in 11 Counties

According to the lawmaker, he has so far gathered 60 signatures in favor of the proposal and that, once the Speaker approves its introduction, he will be permitted to make a statement on the floor of the House so that other members can express their opinions before harmonization and finalization of the proposal.

“Parliament cannot by itself collect views of the people and establish county boundaries. However, the constitution has empowered the independent and Boundaries Commission with the powers of delimitation,” reads the Bill in part.

“That is why under the bill, clause 5 proposes that IEBC should delimit the additional counties of Kuria, Teso, Mt Elgon, East Pokot, and Mwingi from the existing counties of Migori, Busia, Bungoma, Trans Nzoia, Baringo, West Pokot and Kitui respectively within six months of the commencement of the act.”

“Clause two of the Bill proposes amendments to Article 97 of the Constitution to increase the number of women elected to represent the counties in the National Assembly from 47 to 52 while Clause Three of the bill proposes amendments to Article 98 of the Constitution to increase the number of Senators from 47 to 52 cater for the proposed increase in the number of counties.”

Read Also: UDA MP Salah Yakub Reveals Plan to Scrap Presidential Term Limit

Mr Kitayama said that the Constitution established 47 Counties, that there was no scientific basis for this number, and that these counties were simply based on the districts that existed in 1992 without accounting for other districts that the government gazetted in later years in order to improve service delivery.

Senator Allan Chesang of Trans Nzoia described the proposed amendment as a positive one but asked Kitayama to change it so that Mount Elgon would be shifted from Bungoma to Trans Nzoia since he believed it might not be feasible to have the region as a stand-alone county.

“Instead of having Mount Elgon County, the region should be moved from Bungoma to Trans Nzoia County since the area residents have much in common with their brothers in the Rift Valley region while they are domiciled in the Western region where they are misplaced,” said Chesang.

Also backing the Bill is Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa who argued that some constituencies were too big and hence need to be turned into counties.

Read Also: UDA Rebuffs Fafi MP Yakub’s Removal of Presidential Term Limit Proposal

“Some constituencies like Mt Elgon need to be split and more counties created so that our people can access resources with ease,” Barasa said.

“If Mt. Elgon is split and given a mandate to run its own affairs then it will even give a relief to Bungoma Governor Ken Lusaka.”