This archive report was first published on 27 September 2019.
Published on September 27, 2019, Council of Governors' chairman Wycliffe Oparanya is on a collision course with his party boss Raila Odinga over the quest for constitutional changes.
Oparanya has vowed to proceed with the Ugatuzi Initiative rather than the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), which is the brainchild of Odinga and President Kenyatta.
While the BBI aims to amend the Constitution, Oparanya said they were working with the County Assemblies' Forum (CAF) to ensure adoption of the Ugatuzi drive, which seeks to strengthen devolution.
"We have come up with issues in our proposal that we want addressed through constitutional amendments and are working with assemblies through CAF to push this drive," Oparanya told the Nation on phone from New York.
The CoG will meet on Monday to draw a roadmap for the Ugatuzi drive, which includes collecting one million signatures to be forwarded to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
"Since we have so many MCAs, we are confident of getting the signatures in a week," added the Kakamega governor.
The governors' proposal includes an executive comprising the President as Head of State, a deputy president, a prime minister as the head of government and two deputies, as well as a Cabinet consisting of not more than 18 ministers and 22 deputies from among MPs and at least one-third to be appointed from outside Parliament.
They also want the establishment of the office of the official opposition to be occupied by the leader of the party or coalition of parties with the second largest number of seats in the National Assembly.
