Lobby petitions MPs to ensure boundary review beats deadline

A civil society organisation has petitioned the National Assembly to play a proactive role to ensure that a review of constituency and ward boundaries is undertaken within Constitution-established deadlines.

Centre for Accountability, Reform, and Democracy expressed concern that Parliament has not yet developed a legal framework for creating and determining sub-locations.

The next review of the boundaries of constituencies and wards must be undertaken and concluded by March 2024.

The petitioner further noted that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has been dysfunctional since the August 2022 General Election.

“The Commission is presently in limbo pending the recruitment of new commissioners. Thus, no substantive constitutional functions can be discharged by the Commission,” the petitioner stated.

The petitioner asked the National Assembly to engage relevant authorities and stakeholders to take a more proactive role to ensure the review of electoral units is carried out constitutionally and meets the deadline established under Article 89(2) of the Constitution.

Deputy Speaker Gladys Boss referred the petition to the Public Petitions Committee for consideration.

Article 89 of the constitution requires the commission to review names and boundaries of constituencies at intervals of not less than eight years and not more than 12.

Further, the commission is mandated to review the number, names, and boundaries of wards periodically.

But the number of constituencies must be maintained at 290 as stated in the constitution. The last delimitation or fixing the boundary was conducted in 2012.

The petitioner further stated that in 2012, complaints were raised regarding how 80 extra constituencies and 1,450 county assembly wards were created, their distribution, their names, boundaries, and areas of allocation.