Alhamdulillah

The Main Proposed Changes In the

The key changes proposed by the new constitution released are in the following areas:

The Executive

The executive at the top most levels will constitute a A President of the republic and the Cabinet. President key functions

• Shall be the Head of State & Head of Government of the Republic of Kenya.
• Shall not be a Member of Parliament
• Commander-in-Chief - and will declare war and state emergency upon approval by the National Assembly and Cabinet respectively.
• Head of Government - will yield executive authority and will co-ordinate and supervise all major sections of the executive branch.
• Shall nominate, appoint with prior approval of the national assembly, and dismiss Cabinet Secretaries.
• Preside over Cabinet meetings.
• Shall accent bills into law or refer them back to parliament for further review.
• Shall appoint Judges to the Superior Court recommended to him/her by an independent Judiciary Service Commission.
• Shall appoint Ambassadors/High Commissioners to Kenyan embassies abroad.

The Legislature

The Legislative branch will constitute of the following

An upper house - the Senate

• Each of the 47 counties will be have a Senator
• A senator will be elected by the voters.
• Tentative total number of Senators will be 60.

A lower house - the National Assembly

• Each constituency (# of constituency to be determined by Independent Boundary Review Commission) - currently there are 210.
• Majority of the Members of National Assembly will be directly elected by voters
• Each county assembly will elect a woman MP - therefore guaranteeing a minimum of 47 women MP's in the National Assembly.
• Tentative total number of MP's will be 290.

County Assemblies and Executive

• The country will be divided to approximately 47 counties - the counties are comparable to the current districts.
• Each county will have a County Executive headed by a county governor elected directly by the people and;
• A county assembly elected with representatives from wards within the county.

The Judiciary

There will be 3 superior courts:

• Supreme Court - highest judiciary organ comprising 5 judges with one acting as the Chief Justice. This court will handle appeals from the Appeals and Constitutional courts. It will also preside over Presidential impeachment proceedings.
• Court of Appeals - will handle appeal cases from the High Court and as prescribed by Parliament. It will constitute not less than 12 judges and will be headed by a President appointed by the CJ.
• Constitutional Court - shall take up cases pertaining to interpretations of the constitution. It will constitute not less than 5 judges lead by a Principal Judge appointed by the CJ.

An Independent Judiciary Service Commission will be setup to handle the appointment of Judges. They will nominate names of persons to be appointed as Judges by the President. The commission will comprise of the following:

• A Supreme Court judge - elected by members of the Supreme Court to chair the commission
• Court of Appeal judge - elected by members of the Court of Appeals to chair the commission
• The Attorney-General
• Two advocates, one a woman and one a man, each of whom has at least fifteen years' experience, nominated by the statutory body responsible for the professional

regulation of advocates

• One person nominated by the Public Service Commission.

Attorney-General

• Shall be appointed by the President - with approval from the National Assembly
• Hold office for only one term of not more than 6 years.

Devolution

Devolution to the county governments will only be in implementation of centrally planned projects, budgets, and distributed resources but will not allow regions to act autonomously similar to a federal system.

Dual Citizenship

• A person who is a citizen does not lose citizenship by reason only of acquiring the citizenship of another country.
• A person who as a result of acquiring the citizenship of another country ceased to be a Kenyan citizen is entitled, on application, to regain Kenyan citizenship.

Draft Constitution

Without an iota of doubt, am voting YES for the draft constitution. I have listened long and hard to those propagating for a NO vote and the three issues raised were not suppose to be contentious from the begining;
1. Clause on Abortion - The draft expressly says that life begins at conception and that abortion is not allowed unless in the opinion of a doctor the pregnancy is endangering mothers life.
2. Khadis Court - The courts handle personal matter relating to Marriage, divorce and inheritance where both parties are muslims and are within the jurisdiction of the Chief Khadi. The courts have been with us since independence and the high pitched noise being raised by our clergy is to me ill intended.
3. Land - where has it been written that land will be taken away?