Thika MP wades into the Referendum Debate but…..

Thika Town MP Eng. Patrick Wainaina makes a mock Karate fight with Elizabeth Rukwaro, the Thika Karate Kids coach at General Kago Primary School during the disbursement of bursaries to needy students on Tuesday.

Thika Town MP Eng. Patrick Wainaina has become the latest politician to wade into the referendum debate by warning Kenyans against getting so much carried away by the 2022 elections politics but instead using it to seek more coherent solutions to the country’s escalating wage bill.

While speaking at General Kago Primary School during the disbursement of bursaries to needy students on Tuesday, Wainaina noted that the country’s ballooning wage bill wasn’t something that could be wished away and the country could take advantage of this opportunity to address it through changes to the current constitution.

The first time Thika MP advocated for a leaner government so as to check on the bloated Legislature and its impact on the Exchequer, expressing his concern on how the country was being drained on paying salaries instead of development projects. He added that the current document may not be perfect after all, meaning that it could be subjected to amendments to suit the needs of the country.

The legislator pointed out that it would make a lot of sense if Kenyans either scrapped the Senate or reduced the current constituencies by merging them.

“This referendum debate should be about empowering the mwananchi and not about creating positions to benefit a few leaders. In fact we should be discussing about reducing the current Parliament to about 114 MPs only,” said Wainaina.

He suggested that in this composition, at least 30% of the women should be included in the initial mix so as to cater for affirmative action.

Noting that laws are not made to benefit a particular group of people, Wainaina chided those who were advocating for the clustering of counties into regions as it were in the previous system with a view of creating positions of leadership for governors whose terms will end in 2022.

“At current rates, 55% of our revenue collections goes to paying salaries to government officers with another chunk channeled towards debt repayment as opposed to development. There is also a need to rationalise the public service so as to avoid unnecessary duplication of roles in government services,” he said.