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{
    "id": 1111570,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1111570/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 287,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr.",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13156,
        "legal_name": "Mutula Kilonzo Jnr",
        "slug": "mutula-kilonzo-jnr"
    },
    "content": "I have framed from Clauses 7 to 17 on how a committee will be formed, what it will look at; how a matter will be resolved and how the mediation committee will be dissolved. Clause 4 of the Bill is on alteration of county boundaries. This is where Article 188 of the Constitution falls. If a person from any county seeks to alter their boundaries, Clause 18 stipulates what should be done. It is important that I highlight this because it is the heart of the Bill. The petition is then launched in the similar fashion as the petition that is under Article 182 on dissolution of counties; the framework on who should petition and the threshold of petition is in this Bill. We have put the framework and a threshold. For example, in Imaroro Ward in Kajiado County, if you want to secede to Makueni, and you love Makueni, there is a formula here. The formula is such that Imaroro Ward that we border with Makueni County can either secede back to Makueni or leave Makueni if that is the case and the residents of that area are persuaded and have submitted a petition to that extent. Its consideration and report is under Clauses 20, 21, 22 and 23. The part which the National Assembly and by extension, the Parliamentary Budget Office, has confused everybody about a Money Bill is Clause 5. It is on the Independent County Boundaries Commission. I have said it before that under Article 188, it is not contemplated that you will have a permanent sitting commission. It is not permanent, but on need basis. If the petition that is under the previous clauses is successful, they will ask the President to form a commission. The membership and functions of the commission are provided. Madam Temporary Speaker, I got this framework from a gentleman who passed on recently and may his soul rest in peace. He worked as a chief. He gave me the framework that was used to determine the boundaries in 1962 and 1963. I found a beautiful commission, whose name I cannot remember. The commission was formed in 1962, which determined the 41 regions that ended up being the 41 districts that we have now nicknamed counties and then the constituencies. There are two commissions. The person who drafted Article 188 did not just pick this commission from the sky; it existed after Independence. Once this commission sits and picks the views of the people concerned from both sides, if they are satisfied that a boundary ought to be altered, they make an inquiry under Clause 6 and issue a report. This report then comes to Parliament. People think that you can change the boundary of a county. You cannot do so because the threshold is two-thirds of the Members of Parliament, which is nearly like amending the Constitution. Unless Parliament is persuaded in terms of a super majority, you cannot touch the boundaries of counties. This is why I am insisting that this Bill seeks to anchor the 47 counties into law and not change boundaries. By the time you change a boundary and you go the process contemplated in this Bill and the Constitution, any person who seeks to do so must convince 45 Senators and 233 Members of the National Assembly, which is not a small threshold. If 45 Senators and 233 Members of the National Assembly agree, the alteration of the boundary is obvious. Those people deserve to be either in their county or in another county."
}