The National Assembly was set to vote on a proposal to change the date of the General Election. The Bill moved by Chris Wamalwa Kiminini Mp was looking forward to garner two thirds votes support which is 233 members of parliament to move the election date from 2nd Tuesday of August every 5 years to the 3rd Monday of every December but has failed.
House Speaker Justin Muturi announced that the Constitutional Amendment Bill by Minority Deputy Whip Chris Wamalwa was defeated after only 187 out 349 MPs were present in the House.
The list of Members present electronically is 172, the list of members present is 15, total number of members present in the House if 187, accordingly, members, the House cannot proceed to vote on the motion for second reading therefore the motion is defeated,” Muturi noted.
National Assembly fails to raise quorum to vote on an amendment seeking to shift the General Election date from August to December; 187 out of the 233 MPs required in the House. pic.twitter.com/1dZu204mjW
— Robin Njogu (@robinnjogu) October 17, 2018
Wamalwa’s reasons were that Examination of the school calender is going to be tampered with August date and also that those from western county circumcise their boys during the August season. He received support from members who claimed those who come from cattle rearing areas are not home in august but they are around in December because there are rains.
The Constitution dictates that the House must have attained two-thirds of MPs or 233 MPs in order for the Speaker to propose the question on whether a proposed constitution amendment can be adopted or rejected.
This is third time the House has failed in its attempt to move the General Election date after former Ugenya MP David Ochieng, who twice saw bid flop after he failed to muster quorum to propel to the next legislative step.
Following the defeat, Wamalwa said he had now shifted his focus on lowering the two-thirds threshold required to amend provisions touching on the Bill of Rights.
“Maybe it is the highest time that we should revisit the two-thirds provision, because it seems it is impossible to raise this numbers, Mr Speaker,” Wamalwa stated.
But Speaker Muturi reminded him that the two-thirds provision was put in place to ensure the rights of Kenyans is not tempered with.
“If you reduced the two-thirds even the Bill of Rights can be tempered with, even to discuss the territory of Kenya, the term of President all those would require a lesser threshold if you were successful,” Muturi noted.