Parliament petitioned to reduce presidential term, increase that of MPs

A Kenyan has petitioned Parliament seeking to have the presidential term reduced and that of Parliamentarians increased.

Ezekiel Njeru Namu wants MPs to amend Article 101 of the Constitution and allow Members of the National Assembly to serve for six years, Senators to serve for seven years and reduce the presidential term from five years to four years.

In the petition, Mr. Namu also wants the number of constituencies increased to 300 from the current 290.

He has therefore asked Parliament to amend section 89 on delimitation of Constituencies and increase the area of representation in the National Assembly to 300.

Njeru also wants the National Assembly to amend section 98 of the Constitution to do away with Senate nominations for women.

He also wants to do away with nominations based on gender in the County Assemblies while allowing the Assemblies to use local dialects in their deliberations.

To implement some of the proposals in Njeru’s petition, the country would be required to go for a referendum.