In Kenya, parliament to debate national dialogue committee report recommending multiple constitutional reforms

[Read the full 2023 National Dialogue Committee report here: https://buff.ly/3OPK16P] Key among the recommendations that the Senate and National Assembly are set to deliberate on are having a new electoral commission in place, measures to lower the high cost of living, creation of the office of the Leader of the Opposition and the office of the Prime Minister among others. The committee report recommends that the Constitution be amended to establish the office of the Leader of the Opposition an office that will go to the person who is the leader of the largest party or coalition of political parties which garnered the second highest number of votes at the ended presidential election. [...] The committee recommended that the Constitution create the office of the Prime Minister who shall be nominated with the approval of the National Assembly and appointed by the President to assist the President and the Deputy President in the coordination, supervision, and implementation of government policies. [...] The Nadco report also made several recommendations after meeting various stakeholders and experts which included the amendment of the First Schedule to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Act, 2011 to establish a Selection Panel for IEBC Commissioners. [...] The report recommends that within one year of its adoption, the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC), National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) and Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) be merged, and their mandates be undertaken by the Kenya National Human Rights and Equality Commission as established under Article 59 of the Constitution. [...] The committee recommends that Parliament should fast-track the enactment of legislation to harmonise bicameral relations between the Houses with the Constitution being amended to provide that the term of the Senate shall expire on the seventh year from the date of the last election. The report seeks to have the Constitution amended to promote multi-party and fidelity to political parties by entrenching procedures for resignation and deregistration of members of political parties. This seeks to ensure party discipline and provide that a political party may enter into a pre or post-coalition agreement with another political party or political parties. “The Constitution be amended to include, in the basic requirements of political parties, that every political party shall promote discipline within the party, conduct its affairs in a manner that promotes democracy and peaceful politics, and adheres to the values and principles of the Constitution in the nomination of persons to appointive or elective positions including Articles 27, 54, 55, 56, 57 and 100 of the Constitution,” says the report.
Read the full article here: The Standard