Punguza Mizigo Bill: What it Entails and its Imminent Failure

The Punguza mizigo bill initiated by Thirdway Alliance which is led by former Presidential aspirant Ekuru Aukot has met the requisite threshold as the law requires, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairperson Wafula Chebukati said.

Chebukati who spoke through a statement said the commission had established that the Punguza mizigo initiative was supported by 1,222,541 registered voters which surpassed the required 1 million registered voters.

The Punguza Mizigo bill is now headed to the 47 County Assemblies where it will be submitted for consideration with the next three months.

If the Punguza Mizigo bill gets adopted by more than 24 County Assemblies, it will then be forwarded to Parliament where it will be subjected to debate.

If the County Assembly and the Parliament pass the Punguza Mizigo bill then it will be awaiting the President’s consent to get it passed into law.

What Punguza Mizigo Bill Entails

The Punguza Mizigo bill advocates for the reduction of the number of Members of Parliament from 416 to 147.

The Punguza Mizigo bill also seeks to cap the monthly salary of elected leaders to a maximum pay of 500,000 shillings for the president and 300,000 shillings for MPs.

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The Punguza Mizigo bill also seeks to increase the Counties share of the national revenue from 15 percent to at least 35 percent. 

Will the Punguza Mizigo Bill Succeed?

This is very unlikely and would literally create a U-turn in what we know as our political leaders. Going by the history of Kenya’s political arena, corruption and has prevailed for decades without any prosecutions being recorded.

If the massive salaries given to our elected and nominated leaders are never enough to the point they have to steal from our taxes, how would they then agree to any reduction in their salaries?

Our Parliamentarians have on a number of occasions been compared to pigs by activists for their outright greed which see them increase their salaries and allowances, why then would they agreed to have their humongous salaries reduced?

The Punguza Mizigo bill will not even pass the County Assembly level, not if it’s dependent on our politicians for its success so Wanjiku can relax her hopes to avoid any disappointments.

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