Ugatuzi Initiative to begin collecting signatures

Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya Saturday said the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has given the Council of Governors greenlight to collect signatures on the Ugatuzi Intiative.
Oparanya, who is also the (CoG) Chairman said the governors have resolved to come up with their own constitutional amendment Bill as they are the managers of the devolved units.
He said they would soon to embark on the signature collection exercise.
The Constitution of Kenya 2010 requires that in order to propose an amendment by a popular initiative, the move must be backed by at least one million signatures.
The governor was addressing mourners during the funeral ceremony of Adelaide Khalwale the spouse of the former Kakamega Senator Dr. Boni Khalwale at Malinya stadium, Ikolomani Sub County on Saturday.
He stated that as the Chief Executive Officers of the counties, governors were fully conversant with strengths and pitfalls of devolution, therefore they stood at a better position to propose any meaningful constitutional changes related to devolved units.
The CoG’s initiative comes at a time when the Punguza Mizigo Bill, proposed by the Third way Alliance, which among other things supports reducing of the number of constituencies was being shot down by the majority of the county assemblies.
Another related undertaking is the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) brought about by the post-election handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga which is currently finalizing its report.
The BBI task force has already held consultative forums to take views from the stakeholders across the country on constitutional changes they would like to have but their findings are yet to be submitted.
By Sammy Mwibanda