Parliament to hold special sitting to debate BBI Bill

Parliament reconvenes tomorrow to deliberate on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) referendum Bill after the speakers received the report by the Joint committee on Justice and Legal Affairs.

Just a day after National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi called for a two-day Special Sitting to discuss and dispense with the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020, his Senate counterpart Ken Lusaka also called for a sitting.

The JLAC team co-chaired by Senator Okongo Omogeni and Muturi Kigano have submitted the committee report of 171 pages to the two speakers and will be concurrently tabled in the two Houses.

"The Special Sitting will commence from 9.30am and proceed to the afternoon. If there is a spillover, I will Gazette another day to allow members to conclude deliberations," Lusaka told the Standard.

The committee is reported to have come up with two reports, the majority and minority by Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja.

Murang'a Senator Irungu Kang’ata dissented and didn't append his signature on either report.

He will however make public his decision ahead of the House debate tomorrow.

"My position on BBI debate tomorrow. Many friends have died because of Covid-19 and many businesses closed due pandemic. Vaccines first! Sh15 billion referendum cash enough for vaccines. Secondly, correct injustice visited upon Mt Kenya on constituencies distribution. Why Nyeri 0 and Kwale 4?" he said.

Kang’ata argued that in the BBI constituencies distribution, why should Murang'a voters with a population of 590,775, get one, while Nyeri (460,806), Nyandarua (336,322), Tharaka/Nithi (216,522) all get none as compared to Machakos (627,168) getting three.

Kwale with 282,436 gets two and Kilifi with 510,484 gets four.

He questioned the rationale, adding, "I will endorse report if I get the right Bill, since the one in Senate has been deemed as "erroneous" despite being "IEBC certified".”

In the National Assembly, the House's in-tray is full. It will hold a two-day Special Sitting from tomorrow and Thursday to debate the Bill, among other items.