Ndaragwa Member of Parliament Jeremiah Kioni on Monday revealed how his fellow legislators opposed the plan to have former Presidents Daniel Moi and his successor Mwai Kibaki sit in the Senate.
According to the lawmaker, the proposal to have a 13-member Senate consisting of eminent Kenyans including retired presidents was dropped in an amended draft constitution in 2010.
"We had set our eyes on about 13 Kenyans who would sit in the Senate. We had agreed on retired President Moi, Kibaki, upon completion of his term, Moody Awori (former vice president) and the late William ole Ntimama," stated the Ndaragwa MP.
[caption caption="File image of former Vice President Moody Awori"]
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The legislator, who was a key player in the Naivasha talks on the current constitution, also divulged that the MPs changed the document initially tabled in the house.
Nzamba Kitonga, chairman of the defunct Committee on Experts (CoE), disclosed that the 10th Parliament lawmakers altered the harmonized document the committee had crafted, including discarding a hybrid governance system in favour of a purely presidential system.
Kitonga also revealed that the now-contentious presidential system of government was purely the creation of the 27 members of the Parliamentary Select Committee of Review of the Constitution.
However, the committee's revised work was later subjected to a referendum.
Tiaty MP William Kamket recently introduced a bill that could initiate the introduction of a parliamentary system.
Kitonga claims that his team had introduced a similar system of government but their proposal was then shut down by MPs.
“We were ambushed by the committee that went to refine the document in Naivasha. They are the people who came up with a purely presidential system, which had never been discussed,” he mentioned.
The Mandera Central MP Abdikadir Mohammed-led committee also watered down the powers of the Senate, claims Kitonga.
He further divulged that his team had empowered the Senate granting them powers to supervise the National Assembly.
"The Senate was to be the Upper House and would supervise the National Assembly, but all this was reduced in Naivasha and they created a very weak House,” declared Kitonga.
[caption caption="File image of lawyer Nzamba Kitonga"]
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