The push to have sections of the BBI passed in Parliament has received a boost from the Council of Governors this morning, following a resolution of an extraordinary meeting of the CoG Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee to back current plans of getting critical clauses in the project implemented, following the Court of Appeal judgment ruling.
In a statement to newsrooms after their meeting, Governor Kiraitu Murungi, who is the Chairman of the Council of Governors Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee welcomed the court’s decision but said it was not an end to the BBI journey.
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”This seems to mark the end of the road for constitutional amendment through popular initiative, but not the journey. The council still supports the spirit of BBI and the dream of ending divisive elections that result in electoral violence, ethnic antagonism and competition and the fight against corruption,” the statement reads in part.
It continues,” We also hope to see inclusivity among the people of Kenya and increased resources to the counties that will spur growth to the rural economy where the largest population is. It was envisaged that through these amendments, county governments would have an increase in their equitable share from the current 16.9% to not less than 35% of the total revenue collected. ”
The statement further notes, ” We will explore alternative avenues to ensure that revenue to counties increases to at least 35% of the sharable revenue. However, we noted that there are clauses that can be amended through a Constitutional Amendment Bill 2020, which were already passed by both houses of parliament. ”
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These amendments include Article 202 on equitable sharing of the national revenue, Article 203 on equitable share and other financial laws, Article 204 on Equalization Fund, Article 207 on revenue funds for county governments, Article 215 on composition of the commission on revenue allocation, Article 206 A on constituency development fund and Article 207 A on the ward development fund.
Others are Amendment to HELB Act, Amendment to the micro and small enterprises Act, 2012.
