Muturi proposes party-based elections, scrapping of constituency boundaries

By , K24 Digital
On Tue, 10 Mar, 2020 10:31 | < 1 min read
Justin Muturi
National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi greets BBI task force chairperson Yusuf Haji on Tuesday, March 10, 2020. PHOTO | SAMUEL KARIUKI | PD

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi has proposed party-based elections and the scrapping of constituency boundaries in his submissions to the handshake team.

The Speaker said that political parties with the most votes should name the President and Deputy President.

Further, Muturi said that the party that garners the second most votes should become the opposition party with its leader an official in the National Assembly.

"Political competition in Kenya has been more about individuals wearing political party t-shirts. Theres need to entrench elections as a party issue and not individuals. This will institutionalize political competition," Muturi told the Building Bridges Initiative taskforce.

For the furtherance of political party-based politics, Muturi suggested that a threshold be set for parties so that those that fail to meet the requirements are struck out.

"Office of the Registrar of Political Parties should be entrenched as an independent office," said Muturi.

The National Assembly leader also proposed the scrapping of constituency boundaries.

"People should be represented on the basis of a formula on a specified number of representatives," Muturi told the Yusuf Haji-led task force.

On the role of the Senate, Speaker Muturi proposed that the county representatives be given the role of considering and approving officials of the Judicial Service Commission.

"On the composition of the JSC and to curtail the influence of cartels, lawyers shall not practice during the time they serve as members," said Muturi.