Constituencies Created for Former Senators

The Constitutional amendments of 1964 and 1966 progressively led to the weakening and eventual abolition of the seven regional assemblies and the 41-Member Senate. The House of Representatives was renamed the National Assembly with an expanded 158 Parliamentary Constituencies consisting of the old 117 (a good number of which were given new names) and an additional 41 newly- created Constituencies for the Senators.

"This act (the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) (No 4) Act of 1996) abolished the Kenya Senate with effect from 3rd January 1967. It created 41constituencies, one in every administrative district, which were allocated to the 41 Senators. This increased the number of parliamentary seats from 117 to 158. ....... " (Kihoro, 2007).

Constituencies Created for the Senators

*(includes an extra 6 constituencies - no reliable source yet to confirm where the 6 were hived off from)

Table 2.1 Central Region

Table 2.2 Coast Region

Table 2.3 Eastern Region

Table 2.4 Nairobi Region

Table 2.5 North-Eastern Region

Table 2.6 Nyanza Region

Table 2.7 Rift Valley Region

Table 2.8 Western Region

Although the Senate ceased to exist from early 1967, political representation by way of the functions and office of the Senators was expected to continue within the newly expanded National Assembly in order that the interests of the minorities (which the former Senators represented,) would not suffer. The question to ask then is, were the former Senators more active (singly and collectively) participants and champions of regional interests in the new Assembly? If they were and sought to use their new (and certainly elevated) status, then it is safe to say that the National Assembly of 1967-1969 was indeed, among its ranks, composed of an effective representation of minorities. Representation remained largely geographical however.

. It may be of interest to note that by election time in December of 1969 only KANU candidates could take part in the elections as the government had earlier in August banned the opposition Kenya People's Union, KPU. The President then nominated 12 members to the National Assembly after the elections as the law allowed him. Although generally representing the face of Kenya's former 7 regions, it is unclear what express mandate or constituent group the 12 represented. However among them was the first woman Nominated MP Mrs J Gecaga. Hence we can say that political representation in Kenya continued to exist for single member geographical areas with little or no representation for special, minority or other constituent groups.