IEBC, on Thursday, verified former presidential candidate, Ekuru Aukot’s ‘Punguza Mzigo’ Initiative, pushing for constitutional amendments.
The ‘Punguza Mzigo’ initiative seeks a constitutional review to overhaul the structure of government in order to reduce the burden of the cost of governance to taxpayers.
The initiative is said to have met the required threshold of at least one million signatures.
The commission, in a press statement, stated that the initiative sponsored by Aukot’s Thirdway Alliance Kenya Party, was supported by a total of 1,222,541 registered voters.
“The commission has since verified that the initiative has been supported by 1,222,541 registered voters. This is, therefore, to notify the public and all stakeholders that the initiative has met the requisite threshold as required by the said articles 257(4) of the constitution of Kenya, 2010,” recorded IEBC.
IEBC further stated that the party, on February 28, 2019, delivered to the commission a draft Constitutional Amendment Bill and details of supporters of the draft Bill both in soft and hard copy.
The draft Bill will be submitted to the 47 County Assemblies for consideration, within 3 months from the date of submission by the commission.
“Thereafter, the speakers of the respective County Assemblies will submit the decisions of their respective County Assemblies to the speakers of the National Assembly and the Senate pursuant to Article 257(6) of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010,” read the statement.
‘Punguza Mizigo’ Initiative seeks to scale down the number of counties to reduce the country’s wage bill.
It also proposed constitutional amendments, that will save Kenyans over Ksh3.78 trillion which is higher than the current national annual budget.
It advocates for the reduction of the number of Members of Parliament from the current 416 to 147, caps monthly salaries of elected leaders to a maximum pay of Ksh 500,000 for the president and Ksh300,000 for MPs, as well as increasing counties’ share of national revenue from 15 per cent to at least 35 per cent.
