Members of Parliament (National Assembly & Senate) have agreed on the formula to divide the proposed 70 additional seats recommended in the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) Report.
According to a press release sent by Kenyans.co.ke, Nairobi got the lions share of the new seats at 16, bringing the total to 33.
ODM leader Raila Odinga’s strongholds will also benefit from having 15 new seats shared across Kisumu, Migori, Siaya, Homa Bay and other counties from Luo Nyanza as well as the coast where he commanded a huge following in the last election.
Deputy President William Ruto’s backyard received an addition 4 seats spread through Uasin Gishu, Kericho and Bomet.
President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Mt Kenya’s stronghold will have 17 additional constituencies in Kiambu, Murang’a, Nyeri, Kirinyaga Meru, Embu and other Mt Kenya counties.
The 70 additional seats are expected to address gender, people with disabilities (PWD) and under-representation issues within heavily populated constituencies, especially those in the urban and peri-urban areas.
“This is great news for Kenyans who have long suffered from under-representation and a number of whom had made submissions to the BBI steering committee on the need for additional representation,” the press release stated.
If the BBI recommendations pass, Nairobi, Kiambu, Kakamega and Nakuru will have the most representatives.
President Kenyatta and his handshake partner Odinga approved the formula after visiting the MPs during the retreat in Naivasha.
However, allies of the DP have faulted the formula, citing that they were left out of the discussions.
“This is daylight robbery. So the reason why Uasin Gishu and Nandi Counties MPs were not invited to Naivasha was to defraud them by taking away one (1) Constituency from each of the counties?” he tweeted.
