With advanced technology, we can save a lot as fewer MPs can now represent us

Members of Parliament attend their induction retreat at Intercontinental Hotel, Nairobi, on September 18, 2017. Representation ceases when communication between electors and elected stops. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Shikuku posited that an MP’s worth should be calculated from the number of constituents he served and not the size of his constituency.
  • So, one use to which MPs can put surgeries is educating constituents on their roles in developing self and community.

Members of Parliament will likely increase by 100, thanks to Jubilee Party’s overwhelming legislative majority.

But, obviously, no attention will have been paid to the fundamental question of whether Kenya needs more lawmakers or needs more from its MPs.

After the 1979 General Election, Eric Khasakhala, a thinking and softly spoken politician, argued that with a population of between 80,000 and 100,000, Emuhaya constituency needed to be split into two for better representation of Abanyole.

Late in the 1980s, Martin Shikuku, a pot stirring politician, wondered aloud why there was no difference in status between MPs who represented a lot more people and those who represented larger but sparsely populated constituencies.

CONSTITUENTS
Khasakhala’s argument was that an MP should represent a certain maximum number of people to effectively carry out his representative function.

Shikuku posited that an MP’s worth should be calculated from the number of constituents he served and not the size of his constituency.

The two made the point that representation principally revolved around MPs visiting and holding meetings with constituents. Significantly, these are called surgeries in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

Like the departed, I hold that MPs represent people and not land. Therefore the reason for increasing or decreasing the number of MPs should be representation.

Unlike legislating and oversight of government, the role of representation invokes numbers.

In 1979 when Kenya’s population was 15.5 million, there were 158 electoral seats, which would mean every MP represented about 98,101 people.

POPULATION

In 1988 when the population was 21.87 million and electoral units 188, an MP represented about 116,329 people.

Kenya’s population increased to 39.15 million in 2008 and the electoral units rose to 210, which suggests every MP was roughly assigned 186,428 constituents.

Since Kenya’s population is now estimated at 50 million and it has 337 elected Members of the National Assembly, one represents roughly 148,367 Kenyans.

It made sense for Khasakhala to want an MP to represent 40,000 people because communication by rail, road and air, post and telephone, and, therefore, even word of mouth, was woefully slow.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Indeed, there were few schools, churches and mosques and fewer teachers and preachers to help the Provincial Administration broadcast a lawmaker's or government’s message.

The distances between institutions and individuals were huge.

But now, thanks to technology, an MP can communicate via Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, email, mobile phone and hologram, or teleconference, with constituents instantly for 24 hours. Or he can drive or fly in or take the Madaraka Express to the constituency.

Therefore, MPs taking advantage of advanced communications technology and transport, more institutions and better enlightened citizens, should represent more people than previously and currently.

BOUNDARIES

Accordingly, Kenya should have 200 constituencies of 250,000 people each irrespective of size or location.

That means neighbouring rural communities will increasingly have to share constituencies and MPs. And more rural MPs will represent two or more communities.

Yes, clans will not want to be separated by constituency boundaries. True, certain communities will be minorities in some constituencies and, therefore, disadvantaged in voting terms.

But political, religious and business leaders should mobilise Kenyans to reason together on sharing resources and becoming a nation.

GRASSROOTS

Second, if we adopt such a formula, we will reduce the number of MPs and the public wage bill considerably.

Third, MPs should be encouraged to organise constituents into groups for surgeries and, therefore, attend to issues and causes affecting more people than individuals’ problems.

So, one use to which MPs can put surgeries is educating constituents on their roles in developing self and community, devolution and their rights as citizens.

Fourth, when lawmakers will have learned from the surgeries what their constituents want, they should then use the channels above and many more to stay in touch with the grassroots.

Representation ceases when communication between electors and elected stops.

Opanga is a commentator with a bias for politics [email protected]