Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has vowed to oppose a proposal by Fafi MP Salah Yakub to eliminate the two-term presidential restriction and set a 75-year-old upper age limit for candidates.
The UDA Party legislator initially proposed the idea, stating that they wanted to eliminate the present limit of two terms for presidents.
Yakub claimed that it denies capable leaders a chance to advance the country while speaking during a humanitarian food distribution drive in Garissa County over the weekend.
The MP stated, "I am preparing to push a Bill in Parliament that disputes the two terms of serving as president."
However, Senator Omtatah has denounced the proposal, claiming it is an attempt by the President William Ruto-led Kenya Kwanza administration to divert Kenyans' attention from what he calls the administration's appalling performance since assuming office in August.
The outspoken activist continued, "There have been many things happening, there has been an attempt to talk about SGR and other things in the air that are disturbing Kenyans, like the expense of living, so you bring up these topics to distract Kenyans," in an interview with Citizen TV on Tuesday night.
He pledged to vehemently oppose the initiative and root out any MPs advocating questionable constitutional amendments.
Some of us are prepared to fight against it. I'm not sure if we will prevail, but there will be a fierce struggle. Politicians should be changed as frequently as we change a baby's diapers to ensure political honesty and cleanliness. Therefore, in order to get the cream of the crop, we need to continuously rotating our politicians, stated Omtatah.
Yakub believes that a president shouldn't be limited to two, three, or even four terms.
If the president is performing well, he should prolong his tenure, he claims.
The MP stated that having former President Mwai Kibaki, whom he saw as a progressive leader, leave office, was a mistake that the nation could not afford to "repeat."
We don't want to make the same errors we did under Mwai Kibaki. Because the Constitution only allowed him to hold office for two terms, he quit without completing all of his programs, he claimed.
However, Senator Omtatah said that, if anything, the five-year term should be shortened while keeping the two-term restriction in place so that Kenyans could remove any president who wasn't functioning up to par as soon as possible.
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