Is Kenya over-represented in the Political arena?

The Boresha Katiba and Okoa Kenya agendas should be supported by all Kenyans for us to achieve full development as a nation. It is a fact that Kenya is over represented in the political arena. The high number of MPs, MCAs, Governors and Senators is just a burden to the economy of the country which is still developing.

We do not need 47 Governors or the 47 counties; 16 can do just well. Look at the way counties are doing the right thing by forming economic blocks. We started with Jumuiya ya Kaunti za Pwani, then we had the North Rift Economic Block (NOREB). Governors now need to agree that these blocks should be the basis of the revised counties.

We do not need 348 MPs in parliament, 200 legislators are enough. India, for example, has only 548 Members of the Lok Sabha with a population of 1 billion people. The State of California has 15 million people and it has 1 Governor and 2 Senators. Look at its economy, it is 14 times the combined GDP of all African countries.

In Kenya we have 900 MCAs. The total cost of maintenance for each MCA is close to 1 million shillings. This translates to Sh10.8 billion to mantain nominated MCAs every year. Before the MCAs, we had councillors whose functions were the same as the MCAs today. In January 2013, the minimum salary for a councillor was Sh30 thousand in Mandera County while the highest paid was Sh80 thousand in Nairobi County. Today after factoring allowances, an MCA takes home close to Sh500,000.

Furthermore, we really don’t need senators and women reps with our small GDP. Getting rid of them will save close to Sh35 billion per year. Reducing MPs from 348 to 200 saves the exchequer close to Sh50 billion per year if not more. Kenya earns around Sh50 billion from tourism. That’s how significant that saving would be.