Makueni County Senator Mutula Kilonzo Junior. [Photo|NMG]
Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Junior taken a bill to the Senate that will see disputed county boundaries altered by a special team if an elected leader or the public successfully petitions the Senate.
If the bill is passed into law, it will allow a governor, MCAs or residents to petition senators for boundaries to be corrected to avert conflicts.
The County Boundaries Bill 2017 argues that formation of a county boundaries mediation committee would help resolve disputes. It adds that a petition from the public to the Senate to alter a boundary should be supported by at least 15 percent of registered voters in the county.
“Since the promulgation of the Constitution, there have been multiple disputes between counties and on boundary matters. The Senate has also been called upon by the counties and residents to intervene in such matters in order to comprehensively settle disputes,” Kilonzo said as quoted by the Star.
The IEBC will then help a special Senate committee to ascertain that the petition is backed by the required number of registered voters.
A petition by an MCA should be supported by at least two-thirds of county assembly members.
Kilonzo in the Bill, tabled last Thursday, criticised the Constitution’s failure to set out county boundaries or cross-refer them to any other law.
The Makueni senator said it is only a 'matter of notoriety' that the 47 counties and their boundaries are simply districts of Kenya, as envisaged in the Districts and Provinces Act 1992.