Statehouse operatives okayed leaking of the BBI report in order to test the reaction of Kenyans. The report proposes change of governance structure that includes the office of the Prime Minister with two deputies, a well funded official opposition with full shadow cabinet, increase of the number of members of parliament and snipping powers of the Chief Justice by removing the holder of the office from sitting in the Judicial service Commission.
Statehouse operative are worried of a serious backlash and that is why they are testing waters with a doctored version. It is alleged that the real report does not include some of proposals contained in the summary shared by Kuria for example; increasing of nominated MPs from 12 to 162, the version to be released instead provides for scrapping of the 12 nominated slots, 47 Woman Reps and instead proposes nomination of 60 MPs based on a party list, this is expected to also help bridge the gap on two thirds gender rule . The idea is to manage public expectation. They are leaking a doctored (worst) version but President Uhuru will release the original version that they expected to be fairly acceptable in order to get an immediate buy-in from the masses to avoid an acrimonious referendum campaign.
Here is the leaked summary as shared by Hon Moses Kuria:
strong>By Moses Kuria
BBI Report will be released Next Week
1. 290 Constituencies to be retained
2. Nominated MPs to be increased from 12 to 162 to take care of highly populated constituencies
3. President will be elected directly by the people to be Head of State and take charge of Internal Security, Defence and Foreign Affairs. He will have a Deputy President with roles defined in the constitution
4. Prime Minister will be voted for by parliament and will appoint all other Ministers. He will have 2 Deputy Prime Ministers
5. 50% of Ministers will come from parliament and the rest will be appointed outside parliament
6. The First Runner Up in a Presidential Election will occupy the best office of the Official Leader of the Opposition. His running mate will be the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. They will have a state funded shadow cabinet
7. Chief Justice will NOT be a member of the Judicial Service Commission
8. Health and Agriculture functions will revert back to national governments
9. IEBC Commissioners will be appointee by political parties
10. Nairobi County will be abolished
11. All monies to counties will be conditional grants from National Government to ensure devolved funds are spent for the intended purposes
12. If you are charged you can not vie for public office
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