Cherargei: 60% of Kenyans back term limit extension

Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei has said that the majority of Kenyans are supporting the extension of the presidential term limit to seven years.

The legislator tabled a Bill which seeks to extend the terms of elected leaders from five to seven years.

The Senate conducted public participation by sending their thoughts through the email of the House.

As of October 25, the Senate had received more than 200,000 submissions, which crashed its email system following the high number of views received from Kenyans.

While speaking in the Senate on October 29, Cherargei said he had suffered a data privacy breach following a huge number of messages and calls from Kenyans.

“Senate has so far received 500, 000 emails reacting to my Bill. As of now, 60 per cent of Kenyans are supporting my Bill and 40 per cent are opposing,” Cherargei said.

Cherargei said the issue of data privacy should be protected to secure Kenyans.

“I have been a victim of a data breach for the last week, my phone has been called, and I have received insults and praises. As we speak today, my phone has over 12, 000 messages—close to 20,000 WhatsApp messages. I have also received calls and there is a data privacy breach that no one is addressing,” he added.

The proposal to increase the term limit has elicited backlash from Kenyans and mixed reactions from a cross-section of leaders across the country.

Currently, the constitution limits the term of the President to a maximum of two five-year terms.

But Cherargei wants to extend the limit to seven years via the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2024.

“The Bill proposes to amend Article 136 of the constitution, which provides for the election of the President, to increase the term of office of the President from five years to seven years,” the Bill states.

The Bill also seeks to amend sections 101, 177 and 180 of the constitution to extend the terms of MPs, Senators, MCAs and Governors to seven years.

It further seeks to amend Article 151 of the supreme law by inserting section 151(a) which proposes to create the office of the Prime Minister who shall be appointed by the President from amongst the members of Parliament.

"The Prime Minister shall be the leader of the largest party or coalition of parties in Parliament,” read part of the Bill.