Siaya Senator James Orengo has been the latest leader to poke holes into the Punguza Mizigo constitutional amendment bill sponsored by the Thirdway Alliance Party.
The party through its leader Ekuru Aukot has been popularizing the bill lately, with its intentions including reducing parliamentary seats from over 400 to slightly above 140.
But Orengo on Wednesday laughed at the same, terming it making of a few people which remains unfamiliar to Kenyans, and cannot, therefore, be purported to be in their favour.
He also observed that passing the changes will have trapped Kenyans completely, as the proposed laws cannot be amended once passed, and cannot be corrected in the future.
He faulted the proposed changes as ‘opportunistic and rigid’, urging Kenyans to shun it in favour of those expected to come from the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) taskforce.
“Punguza Mizigo Bill cannot be amended and was not subjected to the conversation, unlike what Building Bridges Initiative is doing. No one has even seen the Bill itself,” said Orengo, a celebrated senior counsel.
He made the remarks during an interview on KTN’s Point Blank show on Wednesday night.
He added that his stand has nothing to do with his tag as an Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) member, but as a Kenyan concerned that the bill was not issued to Kenyans for scrutiny.
The bill as well seeks to introduce a one-term seven-year term and abolishing nominations to the two legislative houses, which has raised mixed reactions from the political class.
However, most opposition members have urged Kenyans to wait for the BBI team’s report, with the team that has been touring counties in pursuit of answers to the country’s post-election problems set to make a report soon.
