Acting Minister for local government has said that he will take a bill in parliament to oppose a clause in the constitution baring non-degree holders from contesting for county representative’s posts in the coming general election.
Fred Gumo said the bill will demand the scraping out of the clause and call for ammendments to allow non-degree holders to contest instead of locking them out after civic leaders raised concerns saying they want the clause ammended to allow them to contest for elective posts.
Addressing civic leaders from Kilifi, Tana River and Lamu counties at Malindi county council hall on Tuesday, during a familiarization tour in the Coast province, Gumo said the clause will be ammended to serve as a qualification only to the new comers in the political arena and spare the older civic leaders.
"We will come up with procedures and see how to take the bill in parliament for amendment so that outgoing civic leaders who are non-degree holder are not bared from contesting because they might have political qualifications," he told civic leaders during the meeting amid applause.
Civic leaders had pointed out that such clause should be changed only to be a qualification to new comers in political arena and not for the outgoing civic leaders.
They claimed most of them might have political qualifications and had demonstrated good leadership by serving their electorate for more then 30 years only lacking educational background according to Malindi county council Chairman Anderson Kingi Ngombo.
He said most of civic leaders have been serving their people for many years and wondered why the government had decided to bar them from contesting again through the new constitution.
"Some of us Minister Gumo have served for over 30 years and electorate may still want to elect them again but the constitution is baring such leaders. We want it scraped and amended to allow such leaders to contest, let the clause serve as a qualification to new comers and not to the outgoing ones," said Kingi.
On the issue of the 1 million shillings civil leaders send off, Gumo said he will discuss the issue of with his officers in the Ministry of local government before tabling it to cabinet for discussion.
Civic leaders, he said deserve a lucrative amount as they wait to retire just like MPs since they are mostly involved in development activities and most of their time being with locals than even members of parliament.
“I will discuss the issue with my offices in this Ministry and take the issue to cabinet for discussion so that your plight can be heard because you deserve a good sent off too like members of parliament,” he noted.
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