Nairobi — Civil society groups have criticised Prime Minister Raila Odinga for utterances against the number of constituencies proposed in the draft compiled by MPs in Naivasha last week.

The groups are now accusing the PM of interfering, politically, with the work of the bodies charged by law to deal with the review process.

The groups said in a statement that they were in full support of the work done by the Parliamentary Select Committee in Naivasha as it represented the "wishes of the Kenyan public". They added that though the document was not perfect, it was the closest Kenya had come to achieving a new constitution.

"We condemn as utter disrespect of the wishes of Kenya and unwarranted political opportunism the ongoing drumming of war against the draft by some voice including the prime minister who was clearly and fully represented in Naivasha," the statement signed by Sande Oyolo, the convenor of the Constitutional Reforms Consortium said.

The groups said that the country was currently under-represented in parliament hence the need to raise the number of constituencies from 210. They gave the examples of South Africa which with a population of 40 million people has 400 seats and Uganda which with 30 million people has 340 seats.The PSC has recommended that the number of elective parliamentary seats in Kenya be raised from 210 to 290. The discussions in Naivasha guided by experts are reported by the PSC to have revealed that some existing constituencies would be lost if the country reorganised its elective boundaries using the existing number of seats.

"We feel the PM and other opposed to the allocated parliamentary seats are using the debate to scuttle the Naivasha deal by creating unnecessary contentious issues," the statement read.

The statement also took issue with criticism over the creation of 47 special seats for women. They added that the proposal to increase constituencies by 80 would ensure that marginalised areas are not disadvantaged through the principle of equitable representation.