Jubilee distances itself from powerful PM Bill

Tiaty MP William Kamket is the sponsor of the Bill. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

By EDWIN MUTAI

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Summary

• Leader of Majority in the National Assembly Aden Duale said the Bill sponsored by Tiaty MP William Kamket “is not a Jubilee party sponsored Bill.

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party has distanced itself from a Bill that seeks to amend the Constitution to create a powerful executive office of the prime minister and a single seven-year ceremonial president.

Leader of Majority in the National Assembly Aden Duale said the Bill sponsored by Tiaty MP William Kamket “is not a Jubilee party sponsored Bill.”

He said Mr Kamket is an MP elected under the Kanu ticket and therefore is free to originate a Bill, but the overall deciding vote will be carried out by the all members when the matter is put to vote.

READ: Bill seeks return of powerful PM, weak president

If MPs approve the Bill through a two-thirds majority (233 MPs), it will be taken to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to conduct a referendum where 50 plus one per cent of voters will be required for it to become law.

“Therefore I wish to make it very clear that the Hon Kamket has in his private capacity just like any other Member of Parliament is expected to come up  with the proposed Bill which I have also read in the media today (yesterday),” Mr Duale said in a signed statement circulated to the Press last evening.

Mr Kamket on Tuesday released a Constitutional Amendment Bill that also seeks to scrap the position of the deputy president and increase the number of legislators in the Senate.