Senator Proposes Bill to Extend Term Lengths for President and Parliament to Seven Years
A new bill proposes extending the terms of the President and elected leaders in Kenya to seven years, along with introducing significant changes to the constitution. What could this mean for Kenya's future leadership?
A new bill has come out. It wants to change the term lengths for the President and all elected leaders. Right now they serve for five years. This bill wants to change that to seven years.
The person behind this idea is Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei. He it’s time for a longer term for the President, Members of Parliament (MPs), Members of County Assemblies (MCAs), and governors.
This proposed law is called the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2024. It’s ready for its first reading in the Senate.
According to the bill, “The bill proposes to amend Article 136 of the Constitution, which provides for the election of the President, to increase the term of President from five years to seven years.”
Plus, it wants to change Articles 101, 177, and 180 so that MPs, senators, MCAs, and governors can also have longer terms.
Talks about changing the constitution started back in November 2022. A UDA legislator wanted to get rid of the presidential term limits.
Fafi MP Salah Yakub had a different idea. He thought an age limit of 75 years would be better, but that idea didn’t really go anywhere.
Right now, a President can only serve two terms of five years.
This new bill also brings up having a Prime Minister's position. This idea comes from discussions in the National Dialogue Committee and reports from the Building Bridges Initiative.
In this proposal, the President should pick a Prime Minister from Parliament members. The bill says: “The Prime Minister shall be the leader of the largest party or coalition of parties in Parliament.”
To give more power to the Senate, there are plans for it to vet more state officers.
The bill states, “This bill therefore seeks to increase the parliamentary role of the Senate by addressing issues that have hampered implementation of the constitution.”
Some folks think that the Senate doesn’t have as much power as the National Assembly does.
Specifically, this new idea suggests amendments to several articles—152, 156, 157, 166, 215, 228, 229, 245 & 250—making it easier for both houses to share responsibilities.
If this gets passed, Senate would be involved in approving appointments like Cabinet secretaries & heads like the Attorney General and others too! Right now, only the National Assembly handles these roles.
Also mentioned is a change where Article 229 will require that annual budget plans from the Auditor General go straight to Parliament for approval instead of going through other channels first.
While this gives more jobs to Senate members, don’t worry! The National Assembly still gets to handle approvals for ambassadors & high commissioners.
Another interesting change? Petitions to remove members from constitutional commissions will now go through Senate instead of just going through National Assembly as before!
The main goal here is clear: "The principal object…is to amend…to expand the mandate of the Senate."
There’s more! The bill suggests changes so that both houses must work together when extending a state of emergency. It mentions how “a state of emergency affects…county governments too.”
Also included: now both Houses need approval before deploying Kenya Defence Forces anywhere in Kenya. At present time? It's all up to just one house!
Another fine point is about who can start new laws. Except for money bills (which should always begin in National Assembly), new ideas could start in either house!
The bill also talks about how counties can remove their governors or deputy governors. If there’s a challenge on a governor’s impeachment by Senate? That goes straight to Supreme Court! They have just 30 days to figure things out!
Currently, such challenges start at High Court instead.
Lastly—and here comes exciting news—the bill plans on upping how much revenue gets shared with counties! It goes from 15% all way up to 40%!
“The bill seeks…to strengthen devolution,” making everything work better between national government & county levels! It's all about improving our governance—how cool is that?
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