Kenya: Proposed law may delay General Election

(SomaliNet) If the Kenyan Parliament enacts a Bill prepared by Vice-President Moody Awori’s committee on minimum constitutional reforms, General Election could be delayed until February 2008.

Sourcese say the committee has proposed that the General Election be conducted on the last Thursday of February every five years.

This suggestion means that the life of the current Parliament could be extended into next year if the proposals are passed into law, a move that would please sitting MPs who would have three more months to enjoy their hefty perks, but annoy those seeking to replace them after the elections.

The suggestion to hold the General Election in February is part of a draft Bill proposing Parliament controls its own calendar, and it suggests four other key changes in the Constitution ahead of elections.

Details of the proposed Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill 2007 sets out a timetable of transition from one Parliament to the other and to the next President.

The draft also proposes that for a new Constitution to be valid, 40 per cent of registered voters must turn out in a referendum, and it must be approved (yes vote) by 25 per cent of voters in half of the country’s districts.

Citizens of other countries who marry Kenyan women will be entitled to citizenship and children of Kenyan women born outside the country will become citizens.

The Constitution only allows foreign women married to Kenyan husbands to become citizens while only a child born outside the country whose father is a Kenyan is allowed to become a Kenyan citizen.

The committee, which brings together MPs from both the Government and Opposition and representatives of NGOs and religious groups, among others, has also proposed that Section 97 of the Constitution, which forbids dual citizenship should be replaced with one that will allow Kenyans to hold two passports.

Details of the proposed Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill obtained by the Nation sets out a timetable of transition from one parliament to the other and to the next president.

The draft, prepared by a sub-committee headed by assistant Minister Moses Wetang’ula, was taken to Attorney-General Amos Wako on Wednesday, to prepare the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill to be taken to Parliament.

If the proposal becomes law, Parliament would stand prorogued on the second Thursday of every December. If implemented, it would mean that the current one could end on December 13 this year.

Then, it will stand dissolved on the first Tuesday of February, which falls on February 5 next year — the current MPs were sworn in on January 9, 2003. –Nation