Kikuyu, and by extension the entire Mt. Kenya region, need to read the signs of the times.First,whether they get the deputy president seat or not after 2022, they are likely to languish in the “presidential cold” for a looooooooooong- I’ve ran out of “Os”- time. Second, a powerful Prime Minister’s position in the constitution is a question of when not if. Instead of chasing mirages in the form of BBI or Ruto,their focus should be on proportional representation. It is the only way to secure the region’s interests after the presidency is gone.
In a democracy, one person should have one vote.However, It beats logic that a senator from Kiambu county with 1,180,920 registered voters would have one vote with equal weight to a senator from Lamu with 69,776 registered voters( 1). At the very least, the Kiambu senator should have veto power over motions forwarded by senators from Lamu county. Alternatively,the senator from Kiambu should vote 17 times before the senator from Lamu can cast his single vote.
Proportional representation can be accomplished through various ways:
1. The subdivision of the highly populated counties such that Kiambu produces 17 Lamu-sized counties. I hear people complaining about Punguza mizigo? Let me quote Duale: “hiyo pesa si ya mama yao bwana”!
2.Merging the small counties such that all counties are the size of Kiambu County. This is an uphill task as i doubt any individual would be willing to have his county merged with others. In fact, I suspect that this is the reason why Aukot’s Punguza mizigo got the donkey’s kick to oblivion.
3. As stated above, the status quo remains but the the senators voting rights get determined by the number of registered voters in their counties. While a senator from Lamu has one vote, the one from Kiambu has 17 votes.
EITHER WAY, PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION HAS TO BE EFFECTED. NOW!
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