Public anger at Senate term-limits Bill evident
The crashing of the Senate email system is the best demonstration of the simmering public anger against the nonsensical anti-people Bills lawmakers have lately been coming up with.
The system was overwhelmed when angry Kenyans submitted a massive response against a proposal to extend the term limits of elected leaders. The mover of the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) (No 2) Bill, 2024, Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei, wants tenures of the President, governors, senators, MPs and ward representatives increased from five to seven years.
Mr Cherargei claims that five years is not enough for leaders to implement their mandates. However, President William Ruto has dissociated himself from it. His United Democratic Alliance party has also rejected the Bill.
The country has since Independence in 1963 held elections every five years. Nothing prevents MPs from seeking re-election numerous times. Only the President and governors are restricted to a maximum of two five-year terms. And 10 years is enough time for the leaders to implement their programmes.
Several hours to the close of the period for sending in the email responses, the memoranda had hit the maximum capacity allocated after receiving more than 200,000 submissions. It is laudable that the Senate apologised for the inconvenience and called on the people to continue sending in their views through another email address.
Their opinions can also be submitted to the Clerk of the Senate through the official postal address or be hand-delivered to Parliament Buildings.
Lawmakers have been criticised for tabling several anti-people agriculture-related Bills in Parliament. They should shun selfish interests and come up only with legislation that improves the people’s well-being.
