Deputy President William Ruto seems to have changed tune in terms of supporting the Constitutional Amendment Bill 2020 compiled by the Building Bridges Initiative taskforce.
DP Ruto praised the introduction of a minor section of the Constitution Amendment Bill that was launched at the KICC for the signature collection phase.
In a tweet on Friday, November 27, the deputy president welcomed the proposed enforcement of the shared economic values into the final Constitution Amendment Bill 2020.
"New Article 11a in the BBI Constitution Bill introduced after Bomas will anchor the ordinary peoples' hustler economics of wheelbarrow, boda boda, mama mboga, pastoralists/butchers and guaranteed minimum returns on coffee, tea, korosho, sukari and maize," he stated.
However, a spot check by Kenyans.co.ke found that the previous document launched at the Bomas of Kenya had an Article 11A amendment which underwent minor changes in the KICC document.
The changes introduced were in section c of Article 11A which initially required the government to promote "agriculture".
The final document expanded section c to read that the state would promote "sustainable sources of livelihood including agriculture, pastoralism and the blue economy."
A further addendum required Parliament to enact laws that would support the proposed Article.
Further Kenyans.co.ke found no mention of the guaranteed minimum returns for farmers as the DP had indicated.
The proposed amendment recognises the need for an economic system that provides equitable opportunities everyone to benefit from economic growth in a comprehensive, fair and sustainable manner.
However, there are some proposals that were made at Bomas and were dropped in the final version presented at KICC.
For instance, the proposal to form the Police Council under the Ministry of Interior was dropped.
The BBI report had also recommended the permanent transfer of major functions of the county government to the national government. The change would have altered the constitutional structure of devolution and triggered the need for a referendum.
However, in the final bill which will be presented to County Assemblies after IEBC approves the over one million signatures requirement, the suggestion was deleted.
