As the noise about the referendum continues the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) now says it is ready to conduct a referendum if at all there will be one.
According to Chairman Wafula Chebukati, the commission has not received any referendum questions to process.
“We have heard there are people collecting signatures on various issues, but they have not come to us,” he said.
In addition he said, “They must present a total of one million signatures with the referendum bill to the commission before anything else is considered.”
Chebukati and the commissioners had appeared before the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee chaired by Ndaragua MP Jeremiah Kioni where they asked Parliament to allocate it Sh8 billion to conduct a second review of the ward and constituency boundaries within four years.
According to Chebukati, the review process was scheduled to start in February 2018 and run until August 2021. the exercise will entail intensive stakeholder consultation and public participation.
To make the second review a success, the commission proposed to buy GIS equipment and hire boundary experts.
The commission also intends to address issues arising from the first review.
The IEBC proposed to use the funds to organise an induction workshop for commissioners and their management, and staff training on delimitation, designing legal framework, procedures, processes and decision-making structures for boundaries demarcation.
Chebukati further downplayed claims that he is under pressure from a section of politicians to conduct the review.
He said the process will be rolled out after the national census which is scheduled for August 2019.
“We are not under any pressure. We have the national census in August and that will give us a clear road map for the review. It should also be noted we have until 2024 to conduct the review,” he said.