Thirdway Alliance Kenya has vowed to go back to the drawing board following the collapse of the Punguza Mizigo Bill.
Party leader Ekuru Aukot yesterday announced the launch of a new strategy dubbed ‘Punguza Mizigo Kenya’ (PMK) where a team of experts will collect fresh signatures in yet another bid to amend the Constitution.
Aukot said due to public demand, the party has assembled a team of legal and technical experts to work on the Punguza Mizigo phase 2 proposal.
He said the PMK proposal will have a new outlook based on feedback received from various county assemblies and the public.
With the Building Bridges Initiate (BBI) report close to being unveiled, Aukot said the Thirdway Alliance Bill "failed because of political pressure".
Out of the 47 county assemblies, only Turkana and Uasin Gichu passed the bill.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga are backing the BBI report, which is expected to be unveiled today.
Aukot claimed some MCAs were arm-twisted to stop the bill’s progress.
Technical way
He cited Kirinyaga’s affidavit that indicated MCAs did not reject the bill but suspended it.
He explained that it was absurd to take such action over a bill with a time frame of only three months.
Kirinyaga’s affidavit also pointed out that the bill was to be re-introduced after six months, which Aukot noted was a technical way of avoiding to debate the bill.
He said Siaya and Kisumu county assemblies never debated the bill out of fear of losing their jobs and party positions.
“Political jealousy is real in this country. Some people think that they own the public space. If it is not them that make a proposition, then anything won’t fly,” says Aukot.
He noted that corruption is far from over, going by the manner in which the MCAs were bullied into turning against the Punguza Mizigo Bill.
“We cannot trust this regime that uses corruption to fight good ideas meant to end corruption which is an operating system in our political culture,” he said.
He highly praised Kenyans who looked beyond party lines and considered the Bill.
Aukot cited Turkana County which debated and accepted the bill because it proposed how to end theft of public funds, noting this is one of the biggest challenges facing the country.
Future proposals
Uasin Gishu MCAs, he said, were also categorical since they decided to focus on development and not politics to increase economic development.
Aukot said despite the bill flopping, his party had established a benchmark because any future proposal will have to be better than the Punguza Mizigo Bill.
According to him, future proposals are likely to copy aspects of the defeated bill.
He regretted that Kenyans will carry the burden of accrued national debts that has hit Sh4 trillion in only six years, and blamed Members of Parliament for approving debts.
