Aden Duale Introduces Bill to Increase MPs in Parliament

The country could get more MPs and Senators if a bill introduced by National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale goes through.

In a proposed amendment set to be discussed next week Tuesday, the Garissa Township MP aims at increasing special nomination slots dedicated to women and awarded to political parties as per their strengths in Parliament.

If the bill is enacted, MPs numbers in the House is set to rise from 349 to 391 while that of senators will increase from the current 67 to 71.

This, in turn, is likely to increase the wage bill in salaries to the new posts by Ksh60 million every month.

We need this law in place not because Mr Duale or whoever wants it, but because the Constitution demands that Parliament enacts it within a time-frame, which has lapsed. So we have no otherwise but to abide,” remarked the lawmaker.

The bill was in line with the constitution’s requirements which demanded that members of an elective body should be more than two thirds (or 33.3%) of the same gender.

The National Assembly, however, has 75 women in the current 349 members which represents 21.5 per cent.

Some groups have even filed lawsuits seeking to dissolve Parliament for its failure to achieve the constitution’s requirements.

There has been an outcry over parliamentary over-representation and its effects on the wage bill with a section of Kenyans demanding that the women representative posts be scrapped altogether.

Thirdway Alliance leader Ekuru Aukot has since hit the 600,000 signature mark in the “Punguza Mzigo” initiative aimed at reducing Parliament posts to 147.