Former Mwingi Central Member of Parliament Joe Mutambu has ruled out any chances of the country going to a referendum before the fast-approaching 2022 general polls.
This comes amid a debate on whether or not the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report, which was launched on Wednesday, will need a referendum to be implemented.
Mutambu says that since each step towards a referendum has its own time frame, it would be misleading for Kenyans to be told that there will be a referendum before 2022.
Speaking on Radio Citizen's Pata Shika show, a segment of Porojo, on Wednesday night, the ex-lawmaker also pointed out that there is no way the exercise can be speeded up.
"If we are to stick to the law, there is no way we can go to the referendum before the elections because there are nine processes, each with its own time frame (Tukifuata sheria hatuwezi enda referendum kabla ya uchaguzi kwa sababu kuna processes tisa na zote zina wakati wao)," he said.
He pointed out that the BBI taskforce must have taken the same into consideration, hence its decision not to touch the system of governance and executive in its report.
He said that had the taskforce decided to interfere with constituency or county boundaries, then there would have been no option but to implement the proposals through a referendum.
"Yale mapendekezo ninayoyaona, inaonekana wataalamu wameangalia wakaona wasiguze viti za wabunge na magavana ili tupate njia ya mkato kupitia bunge," he added.
This translates to: "Looking at the proposals, it seems the experts have decided not to interfere with MPs' and governors' seats so that we can get a shortcut through the parliament."
In its report, the taskforce has proposed the introduction of the seat of a Prime Minister, who will seat in the parliament and act as the president's representative in the house.
It also pushes for the automatic nomination of the first runners up in the presidential race to the parliament, where he will be handed the official opposition seat.