BBI: THE PORK BARREL POLITICS

Why did BBI pass? A friend of mine Cheraisi Sam associates that to The Pork Barrel Politics. What’s Pork Barrel Politics?

Pork-barrel politics is the legislative practice of slipping funding for politicians pet issues into a Bill in order to secure support. The project may have nothing to do with the bill and may benefit only the legislator's home district or legislators himself. Before a bill gets to a vote, pork-barreling often inflates its costs of the bill through the addition of unrelated pet projects and exaggerates its worth . The pork barrel is always the bait to entice legislators. It’s always a difficult choice to reject a pork barrel filled legislation by those legislators who benefit from it. They will face a tough time explaining to their people why they rejected the money.

BBI passed the county assemblies and now the National Assembly because of the pork barrel. County assemblies were given incentives of free car grant and promised ward funds. Most populous counties were given a promise of additional constituencies which translates to additional CDF funds in future. BBI wasn’t actually about additional constituencies or ward fund. Those are not constitutional issues. It was about expanding the executive.

Assuming BBI goes through in the referendum, the following will be the distribution of the constituencies by Region:

1. Mt. Kenya (10 counties)- 81 (up from 64)

2. Pastrolist Counties (10 counties) - 57 (up from 48)

3. Kalenjin Rift Valley (7 counties) - 47 (up from 38)

4. Western (4 counties) - 38 (up from 33)

5. Coast (6 counties) - 36 (up from 26)

6. Luo Nyanza (4 counties) - 32 (up from 29)

7. Nairobi (1 county) - 29 (up from 17)

8. Kambaland (3 counties) - 26 (up from 22)

9. Kisii (2 counties) - 14 (up from 13)

The problem with a pork barrel filled legislation like this is that it fails to  consider economic realities before promising pork to everyone. It promises 35 percent allocation for counties while the current government is struggling to disburse even 10 percent now. That said, it will be almost impossible to expect people in Cebtral or those many other regions who will be benefiting from additional constituencies to reject BBI during referendum. We’re safe to say, the bait has been swallowed hook line and sinker. My only advice to wananchi is that, as you swallow the bait please don’t let it choke you.

Gitau wa Kung'u.