Let Kenya Adopt Electoral College System of Voting, Okiya Omtatah Says
Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah is vouching for a constitutional change to enable Kenya to adopt the electoral college voting system like the US does with its presidential elections.
On Monday, he stated via Twitter that he is in favour of the Azimio la Umoja coalition's desire for self-determination, but not through secession. The vocal rights activist cum politician said he believes the Kenyan Constitution has a flaw in its design, wherein all governing bodies are devolved apart from the presidency.
"Hence, for me, the solution lies in amending Article 138 of the Constitution to devolve the presidency by removing the provision inadvertently created in law for the ethnic mobilisation of the national electorate at presidential elections. There is the urgent need to fully devolve the presidency to the 47 counties, the way the American founding fathers devolved their presidency to all the states that make up the United States of America," Omtatah said.
The legislator avers that tribes are only important when their numbers are aggregated on a national level, and this is the only way to break the power of the five major tribes in national politics. He believes that the big five tribes (Luhyia, Kamba, Luo, Kalenjin, and Kikuyu) currently have an outsized influence over Kenya's political scene because of their large populations. However, he believes this will be diminished if people from those tribes are members of the minority in other counties.
Omtatah explained that to be elected as president, a candidate must successfully receive the majority of votes in several counties that will earn them the required 169 electoral points. He believes that the electoral college formula will move tribal politics aside to make way for issue-based national politics, giving politically marginalized tribes such as the El Molo a chance to be elected president of Kenya.
Comments
It's a bad idea. It will…
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It's a bad idea. It will mean that the winner of the popular vote stands a good chance of losing and policies the majority are against will be enforced. Republicans have won the popular vote once in the last 22.5 years yet we've had 12 years of republican rule. This has led to supreme court judges the majority don't agree with and wildly unpopular rulings.
The American government and…
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The American government and the British government are the leaders of Chicken thieves empowerment in Kenya.
They are also shameless supporters of Electoral fraud in Kenya.
There is nobody who has shamelessly come out to finance , empower local thieves, defend electoral fraudsters & baby-sit the association of pathological liars like these two embassies.
I wish hizi mafara seceded…
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In reply to The American government and… by Secession is t… (not verified)
I wish hizi mafara seceded the first time their god,Raila came with the idea.They should go away as soon as possible to continue taking salary loans.But their main agenda is Raila presidency,a seat he will never occupy.Their main obstacle is expired wauaji Kamau and Odinga plus their families grabbed 90% of their wealth in central and Nairobi areas.
I don’t belong to the big…
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I don’t belong to the big five tribes.
Kenyans who don’t belong to the Big 5 tribes should be given an option to secede.
It’s is time to fix Historical injustice created at the Lancaster House in the London.
But you have an absolute…
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In reply to I don’t belong to the big… by Secession is t… (not verified)
But you have an absolute right to secede, well, by moving into Somalia or Uganda or wherever!
Death penalty for IEBC…
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Death penalty for IEBC Chairman , commissioners & returning officers in the event of Electoral fraud.
Not sure which Kenyans he is…
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Not sure which Kenyans he is listening to, Kenyans want an end to this politics of it is our time to eat. Remember the one man, one shilling agenda, they want a population based system. Omtata is reading the wrong numbers.
Electoral college for…
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Electoral college for Kenyans. Nope!!!!
We already have a good…
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We already have a good system in devolution. All is needed now is for governors to be visionaries and thinkers and create economically stable counties. We should not try to copy and paste systems from individualistic wazungu countries, we are collectivists by nature and what works for them does not necessarily mean is applicable to us.
Very bad idea! Jaluos want…
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Very bad idea! Jaluos want power via the back door! Period!
We don’t want a country where the “white supremacists” Dixiecrat Jim Crow rules the majority, from the back door shenanigans!!!
Enough of political nonsense…
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Enough of political nonsense. Economy is everything. Kenya constitution is most expensive, way too many seats in a small economy
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