The Constitutional Amendment Bill (BBI) has achieved the minimum 24 counties needed to take it to a referendum.
The Building Bridges Initiative Bill was taken to the assemblies after the IEBC verified over 3.1 million signatures.
Governors were enlisted to lobby the MCAs in their respective counties to support the Bill once it gets to the County Assemblies.
The president further promised to give Sh 2million car grants to the Members of the County Assemblies should they pass the Bill.
It is with this promise, that a majority of counties passed the BBI bill with only one county - Baringo, rejecting it.
Over the weekend, ODM leader Raila Odinga asked Kenyans to prepare for a plebiscite in June as county assemblies continue to approve the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
Raila said he is optimistic that by Tuesday (today) more counties are going to approve the bill and surpass 24 which is the required number before they go for the referendum.
Raila described the day as ‘Super Tuesday’ where he and President Uhuru Kenyatta expect more counties to give nod to the Bill.
What next after this?
With over 24 counties passing the draft bill, the speaker of the county assembly shall deliver a copy of the draft Bill jointly to the Speakers of the two Houses of Parliament, with a certificate that the county assembly has approved it.
Article 157(7) says that if the draft Bill has been approved by a majority of the county assemblies, it shall be introduced in Parliament without delay.
Parliament will play a central role in the implementation of the BBI report through legislation.
At least 12 broad legislative proposals are expected to be enacted by Parliament to implement parts of the BBI report.
If a majority of the members of each House pass the Bill, it shall be submitted to the President for assent.
But if either House of Parliament fails to pass the Bill, or the Bill relates to a matter specified in 255 (1), the proposed amendment shall be submitted to the people in a referendum.
Article 255(1) outlines areas of the Constitution that must be taken to a referendum if they are to be amended.
A proposed amendment shall be approved by a referendum if at least 20 per cent of the registered voters in each of at least 24 counties vote in the referendum and the amendment is supported by a simple majority of the citizens voting in the referendum.
The BBI Bill seeks to amend at least 58 Articles of the 2010 Constitution but only about 10 require a referendum.
They include the Bill of Rights (Article 31); Functions of Parliament (Articles to 113 and 123), Independence of Judiciary (Article 172) and Devolution (Articles 177, 179, 180, 202, 203 and 207).
However, the proponents believe it will be hard to marshall the two-thirds majority required for the passage of the rest of the Articles through Article 256 of the Constitution.
Article 257 - amendment through popular initiative - thus appears to be the easiest way for the proponents to have their way with little resistance.