Written by West Fm 2012-01-18 16:41:00 Read 602 Times

Article 89 of the Constitution stipulates that there shall be 290 Constituencies for the purpose of the election of the members of the National Assembly.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is by that Article 89 of the Constitution mandated to review the names and boundaries of Constituencies at intervals of not less than eight (8) years and not more than twelve (12) years but so that any review must be completed atleast twelve months before a General Election  of Members of Parliament.  In the prevailing circumstances if the next General Elections were to be held in 2012 then under Article 89(2) the proposed eighty (80) new Constituencies will not count unless that Article 89 (2) is amended granted that the process of review is not complete and even if it is completed it will not comply with the Constitutional threshold that the review process must be completed (twelve) 12 months before the General Election.  And any law abiding Kenyan will be within his or her Constitutional rights to move the Constitutional Court to bar the IEBC from flouting the Constitution by trying to include the reviewed Constituencies in the next General Election when the twelve (12) month period since completion of the review would not have been met.

The Constitution gives the IEBC power to review the number, names and boundaries of Wards periodically.  

Article 89 (6) of the Constitution prescribes that the number of inhabitants of a Constituency may be greater or lesser than the population quota by a margin of not more than:

• 40% for cities and sparsely populated areas
• 30% for the other areas

The population quota formulae in the Constitution basically entails that the IEBC will take the total population of Kenya as per the applicable National Census at the time of review and divide it with 290 Constituencies so that ideally each Constituency will have the same population of people.  If the population of Kenya is thus 40 million then each Constituency ideally ought to have a population of 137,931 persons.

The Constitution then provides that in urban areas and sparsely populated areas, the Constituencies may be permitted to have a population of 40% more than or less than the national average whereas in all other Constituencies the variation to be either more than or less than the average mean by 30%.  Thus at a population of 40 million, urban areas can have upto 193,103 people and the sparsely populated ones upto 96,552.  Granted there are existing Constituencies which fall below the thresholds set by Article 89, the same were protected from being rendered non-existent by the same Constitution and they will continue to exist despite having populations below the permissible Constitutional thresholds below the population quota.

The Constitution stipulates that in establishing the new Constituencies the IEBC shall be guided by the above principle of the population quota and also take into account the following other factors:

• Geographical features and urban centres
• Community of interest, historical, economic and cultural ties
• Means of communication

 The Constitution further requires the IEBC in reviewing Constituencies to consult all interested parties and progressively work towards ensuring that the number of persons in each Constituency and Ward is as nearly as possible equal to the population quota.

The Constitution further permits any citizen of Kenya to apply to the High Court for a review of a decision of the IEBC made under Article 89 which sets out the principles for delimitation of electoral units.  Such an application to the Court for review of the decision of the IEBC must be filed within 30 days of the publication of the decision in the Kenya Gazette.

West fm states that as the IEBC is presently conducting its hearings to consult the public all over Kenya on the proposed review of Constituencies and Wards published pursuant to the Ligale Report let those who attend the hearings prepare their submissions based on the clear Constitutional guidelines.  Emotions, prejudice, fear, lies and violence have no place in the way the electoral boundaries are to be constructed and those residents of the region who wish to have their comments taken seriously must ensure those views are in line with the Constitutional requirements period.

West fm states that it is as regards those Constituencies and Wards where the population quotas have small variations that politics will be infused by vested interests whether in the IEBC or the political class for this or that area to have a Constituency, Ward or not.  The public must be vigilant and scrupulous to ensure that IEBC strictly follows the near scientific formulae set out in the Constitution in reviewing the electoral boundaries and thereby minimize disputes and contentions which might result in Kenya having to go to the next election using the parliamentary electoral boundaries of 2007 rather than the proposed new ones and which ought to be ready twelve (12) months to the next General Elections.

West fm reiterates that the questions of new Constituencies and Wards are so paramount that nobody should be permitted to trivialize or tamper with them as they eventually determine how resources are shared in Kenya.  Indeed, the stability of the nation is anchored on every citizen, community having confidence and belief that the electoral units have been equitably distributed.  IEBC must stick to the  Constitutional Framework in delimiting the new electoral units and let Kenyans go to the next General Election knowing the political playing field as to electoral politics is level and just.

WEST FM EDITORIAL©2012