Eric Omondi Pushes Referendum to Reduce Kenya’s 47 Counties to Eight

Activist and comedian Eric Omondi has intensified his campaign to reduce Kenya’s 47 counties to eight, saying his team is approaching the halfway mark in its push to collect one million signatures required to initiate a constitutional amendment through a popular initiative.

Omondi, who has increasingly positioned himself as a campaigner on governance and the cost of running government, said the proposal would effectively reorganise Kenya around the eight regions that existed as provinces before the 2010 Constitution established the current devolved system.

“We must reduce the counties from 47 back to the former eight provinces,” Omondi said in a video message calling on Kenyans to support the initiative.

He argues that Kenya has become over-represented, with multiple layers of elected leaders, national and county officials consuming resources that could otherwise be directed towards public services.

Omondi listed the President, Deputy President, governors, deputy governors, senators, MPs, woman representatives and MCAs among the layers of representation, alongside national and county administrators.

He described the current system as contributing to waste, corruption and misappropriation of public resources.

Omondi says campaign has 450,000 signatures

The campaign is now moving into a potentially significant phase.

Omondi claims organisers have already collected more than 450,000 signatures following drives in areas including Mombasa, Meru and Kakamega.

He is now calling on supporters to visit Archives in Nairobi from Monday to Friday to add their signatures.

“We need to get to one million,” he said.

The one-million figure is significant under Article 257 of Kenya’s Constitution, which allows a constitutional amendment to be proposed through a popular initiative supported by at least one million registered voters.

However, reaching one million signatures would not automatically produce a referendum.

The promoters would have to submit a draft Bill and supporting signatures to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission for verification.

If IEBC confirms that at least one million registered voters support the initiative, the proposed Bill would then be sent to all county assemblies. A majority of the county assemblies would have to approve it before it proceeds to Parliament.

Because reducing the number of counties would fundamentally alter the structure of devolved government, the proposal would ultimately require approval in a national referendum under Article 255 of the Constitution.

Could Kenya really return to eight regions?

Kenya currently has 47 counties expressly listed in the First Schedule of the Constitution. They replaced the previous provincial administrative structure as part of the devolution settlement introduced by the 2010 Constitution.

Omondi argues that reducing the number would cut administrative costs and eliminate duplication.

But the proposal is likely to provoke a much wider debate about what Kenya gained from devolution.

Supporters of the current system could argue that counties brought government, healthcare, local infrastructure and decision-making closer to communities that historically felt marginalised by a heavily centralised state.

Any serious proposal to create eight larger units would therefore have to answer difficult questions: What happens to the existing 47 county governments? Would the 47 senators, governors and county assemblies disappear? Where would the headquarters of the eight proposed regions be located? How would revenue be shared? And would larger counties save money without taking government further away from citizens?

Those questions are not answered by collecting one million signatures.

But if Omondi reaches the constitutional threshold and IEBC verifies the signatures, his campaign could move from a social-media proposition into a formal constitutional process.

The Supreme Court has previously affirmed that the numerical threshold matters under Article 257: at least one million registered voters must support a popular initiative before the IEBC verification process is triggered.

For now, the immediate test is considerably simpler.

Can Eric Omondi turn his online following and public frustration over the cost of government into one million valid signatures?

If he does, Kenya could find itself debating one of the most consequential changes to devolution since the 2010 Constitution came into force.

Category: Opinion