Prime Minister Post, Scrapping of Woman Rep Seat: Inside the Final BBI Report

President Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga received the final Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report.

The 204-page document was handed over to the two leaders by the BBI taskforce at Kisii State Lodge on Wednesday morning.

The report, which will be officially launched next Monday at the Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi, has made a raft of recommendations including the re-introduction of the Prime Minister position.

The report recommends the abolishment of nominated seats in both the Senate and the National Assembly.

The Woman Representative seat in the National Assembly will be scrapped but political parties will be required to meet the two-thirds gender rule while submitting their lists to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

Each of the 47 counties will elect two senators, a man, and a woman. Nomination slots in the County Assembly reserved on the basis of gender parity will only be given to people who lost in the just-concluded election.
 
The Prime Minister will be nominated by the President from among MPs, and from the party with the majority seats in the National Assembly. The PM will only earn one salary 

MPs appointed as ministers will also earn one salary and the same applies to the two deputy prime ministers who will also be ministers. The number of Cabinet ministers will remain 22, including the two deputy prime ministers.

Based on the population, some constituencies will elect more than one MP to ensure equitable representation.

The compression ratio for allocation of resources will be reduced from 5 percent to 3 percent, meaning the county with the highest share per person should not have 3 times more than that with the lowest. 

Further to this, the report proposes the youth be given a seven-year tax holiday once they establish a startup business while graduates will be given a four-year grace period for repayment of HELB loan from the day of graduation.

It also recommends the establishment of a Youth Commission as a constitutional commission to ensure the mainstreaming of the youth perspectives in planning and decision making.

Further to this, the taskforce recommended the county allocation be increased from 15 percent to 35 percent of the national budget.

To take development resources to the grassroots, there will be a Ward Development Fund of 5% per ward of all the county governments’ revenue.