Prime Minister Raila Odinga is not the only one who has expressed disquiet over the high number of electoral seats proposed by the Parliamentary Select Committee.

A question that has not been answered satisfactorily by the MPs who, on the whole, did a fairly commendable job in Naivasha, is whether this country, whose economy is in a parlous state, can afford an additional number of MPs, on top of the 222 who are already a major burden on the taxpayer.

The other question, of course, is the real rationale behind these 80 additional constituencies, on top of the 47 special seats for women, on top of the 12 MPs that political parties are allowed to nominate.

This will all add up to 127 extra MPs. And this does not even include the proposed 50-member Senate whose function remains unclear.

Why would we need such a high number of representatives?

The real question is whether those making the proposals, and they include the Committee of Experts who wanted an even higher number, ever sat down to do the necessary calculations especially in a situation where our MPs are supposed to be among the highest paid in the world.

It would appear the MPs are engaged in self-preservation. Whether population size or the geographical constituency size will determine the number of electoral units no longer seems to be the issue.

On this score, MPs at Naivasha failed, and the Committee of Experts should go back to the drawing board and come up with a more reasonable figure, taking into consideration the Prime Minister's advice.

As long as the marginalised members of society, who should include women and the physically disabled, are taken care of, Kenyans will continue to ask why they need so many extra mouths to feed nationally, especially at a time when our national debts, both external and domestic, are skyrocketing.

A particular puzzle is that of the Senate. Originally, senators were supposed to represent regions in the Upper chamber of Parliament. But now that there won't be any regions, of what use will they be?