Consensus on the 70 extra seats at the national assembly

The population quota now becomes 132,138 people per MP.

By Mourice Seretta

The Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) consultative meeting for Members of Parliament (Senate & National Assembly), while meeting in Naivasha; agreed on a formula for the allocation of the seats by County to address gender, PWD’s & under-representation issues within heavily populated constituencies, especially those in the urban and peri-urban areas.

In a meeting attended by handshake partners that bore the BBI initiative both President Uhuru Kenyatta and Opposition Leader Raila Odinga the participants agreed that with the addition of 70 constituencies, the country will now have 360 MPs to address the requirements of article 81(b,c & d) and Article 89(7).

The population quota now becomes 132,138 people per MP.

This population quota is the basis of 70 additional seats. Counties that are presently under-represented by virtue of having a heavy population, will on the basis of population quotes of 132,138 people per PM, receive additional MPs.

The participants say that that is great news for Kenyans who have long suffered from under-representation and a number of whom had made submissions to the BBI steering committee on the need for additional representation.

The top beneficiaries of the slots will be Nairobi which will be added 16 seats, Kiambu 6, Nakuru 5, Kilifi 4, Mombasa 3, Machakos 3, Kiajiado 3, and Narok 3.

Others that will get 2 seats each will be Kwale, Meru, Trans Nzoia, Uaisn Gishu, Kakamega, and Kisumu.

The majority of counties will get 1 seat each and those will be Nyamira, Homa Bay, Siaya, Bomet, Kericho, Laikipia, Turkana, Murang’a, Kirinyaga, Mandera, Embu, and Makueni counties.