A lobby group is pushing to have deputy presidents blocked from seeking the presidency immediately after they leave the office of the president's chief principal assistant.
Linda Ugatuzi is making the push after William Ruto ascended to the presidency soon after serving as Deputy President for nine years, which they argue will set a bad precedence in the future.
The lobby is seeking a legislation that will see to it that a sitting DP who is eyeing the highest seat in the land takes a five-year break before contesting to become the Head of State.
Professor Fred Ogola is leading Linda Ugatuzi and has instigated a national drive that is expected to amend the Constitution of Kenya 2010 to see his proposal realised.
If adopted as mooted, the constitutional amendment will bar DP Rigathi Gachagu from vying for presidency until 2032 if while together with Ruto they lose the presidential poll in 2027.
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In a scenario where Ruto-Gachagua ticket is elected in 2027 it would be their final legal term and it would then mean the earliest Gachagua could run for president would be in 2037.
"We want the deputy president to serve the president and wait for five years outside government before they return to vie for presidency just like US President Joe Biden did. He served Barack Obama until 2016 and then contested for the top seat in 2020," said Prof Ogola.
He argues that such a legal change would ensure deputy presidents protect public funds and offer quality governance knowing they would not be immune to prosecution for the five years they are out of office.
Linda Katiba also plans to have governors who have served their two terms from vying for the senatorial post, which is purely a position to play oversight for county governments.
The lobby argues that if governors who have exhausted their terms are allowed to run for senator of same counties they served in they would interfere with audits in those counties.
"We feel governors should not go for senatorial offices and instead wait for another five years outside government so that in case they had a hand in misappropriation and plundering of public funds they can be held accountable without hitches," Prof Ogola added.
The lobby launched a drive to collect one million signatures on Monday to support their Constitution Amendment Bill 2022, the fourth attempt to amend the Constitution of Kenya 2010.
The group appealed to Kenyans to endorse the move by appending their signatures to the bill that also seeks to increase county allocations to 35 per cent of the national budget.
During the Bomas of Kenya media briefing, the proponents of the bill revealed that they were also seeking to give prosecutorial powers to Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.
Ohther initiatives that have tried to amend the supreme law include Punguza Mizigo, Okoa Kenya and the Building Bridges initiative (BBI) with all of them being stopped in their tracks.
