Makueni governor Kivutha Kibwana now wants the referendum to amend the 2010 Constitution to be postponed until after the 2022 General Election.
According to the seasoned politician, it is not wise for the country whose economy is still stumbling to initiate reconstitution of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, delimitations of constituencies, a referendum as well as General Election in less than 12 months.
“In my considered opinion, we should postpone constitutional review until after 2022 elections. After that we should revisit the Bomas Draft. It is not judicious to handle reconstitution of IEBC, delimitation of constituencies, referendum and a general election inside 12 months,” he said.
While acknowledging the importance of Constitution amendment where 43 County assemblies out of 47 voted for BBI to amend the Constitution, Kibwana said the National Assembly was grappling with issues of public participation.
Kivumbi.co.ke understands that Kibwana who had been associating with Linda Katiba, an initiative that initially opposed the BBI Bill 2020, made a U-tern two months ago to drum up support for the constitution review.
This is after the county boss held a consultative meeting with over 60 Members of County Assembly from Ukambani region.
This comes at a time speculation are that the referendum could be held in July 2021.
According to the co-chair of the BBI secretariat Junet Mohammed, parliament’s joint committee has already reached an agreement on BBI timelines ahead of the 2022 General Election.
“We have agreed that the referendum should now be conducted in July. We expect the joint committee to dispense with the matter in the next two days,” Suna East Member of Parliament told the Standard.
After the BBI bill was endorsed by over 24 counties as required by the constitution, the document now lies squarely at the hands of parliament, which is set to debate it.
If approved, the IEBC will have two months to prepare for a referendum before the end of August, considering the constitution cannot be amended a year to the general election.
