Constitution amendment by popular initiative

There are two ways of amending the Constitution: parliamentary and popular initiative. Under the parliamentary initiative, an amendment Bill is introduced to either house of Parliament and must be supported by at least two thirds of the members in both houses to sail through. Under the popular initiative, any person may propose amendments to the Constitution if he is supported by at least one million registered voters. In that event, the person presents a petition to the IEBC supported by one million signatures and accompanied by a draft Bill. Upon verification of the signatures, the IEBC then sends the Bill to all County Assemblies in Kenya. If the draft bill is approved by a majority of the County Assemblies (at least twenty four county assemblies), it is then introduced to Parliament. The Bill would pass if supported by the majority of members in both houses. However, if either houses of parliament fail to pass the bill, the Constitution provides that the Bill shall then be submitted to the people for approval through a referendum. The Constitution however provides that there are constitutional amendments which must be passed through a referendum (whether they are initiated through the parliamentary or popular initiatives). These include matters touching on the; (a) Supremacy of the Constitution (b) Territory of the Kenya (c) Sovereignty of the people (d) National values and principles of governance, (e) Bill of Rights (f) Term of office of the President (g) Independence of the Judiciary and the commissions and the independent offices (h) Functions of parliament (i) Objects, principles and structure of devolved governments OKOA KENYA INITIATIVE Okoa Kenya is a movement of like-minded Kenyans from all walks of life under a non-political platform who are convinced that Kenya is at a critical point in its history. Okoa Kenya was formed to address the pertinent national issues affecting the welfare of Kenyans and to campaign for the necessary amendments to the Constitution to address these issues. One of the initiatives launched by the movement is to promote a national popular initiative for the amendment of the Constitution as one of the ways to deal with the crisis in Kenya. The Committee of Experts appointed by Okoa Kenya to advice on the necessary constitutional issues requiring urgent amendment to deal with the national crisis has identified five key issues that need to be addressed. These five issues are a) Devolution b) Land Reforms c) Electoral Reforms d) Inclusivity e) Strengthening of public institutions and constitutional commissions