Give House team time, says Raila

Prime Minister Raila Amollo Odinga and Kisumu West Member of parliament Olago Aluoch joins hundreds of faithfuls in praise and worship at St. Stephens Cathedral Kisumu on Sunday. Photo/TOM OTIENO

By DANIEL OTIENO and BENSON AMADALAPosted Sunday, January 10 2010 at 21:00

In Summary

• All three forms of leadership suggested have weak points, PM tells Kenyans

Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Sunday asked Kenyans to give the Parliamentary Select Committee ample time to work on the new constitution.

Mr Odinga said that the House team will assess the various forms of government and agree on the one that best suits the country.

“The Parliamentary Select Committee will deal with the issues that have been raised by various political parties and try to bridge the gap so that we can have a new constitution,” he said.

The PM said that President Kibaki and himself will not comment on the form the new law takes for now.

Speaking at St Stephen’s Cathedral in Kisumu, he said that the three forms of government — hybrid, parliamentary and presidential — all had their shortcomings.

“There is a lot of confusion. People must be made to understand what is entailed in whichever form of government is proposed so that they make informed choices,” he said.

The system of government to be adopted under the new constitution has created divisions within the ranks of the government and political parties, with PNU pushing for the retention of the presidential system and ODM pushing for a hybrid system.

The Committee of Experts handed over the draft constitution to the House team chaired by Mandera Central MP Abdikadir Mohamed on Friday. The draft proposes a hybrid system of government.

On Saturday, Mr Odinga said there were no divisions between him and the President over the draft. He said they agreed that they would not deliberate on the contents of the draft until the public, the CoE and Parliament had done their parts.

Disagree

“We did not disagree with the President. The constitution is neither Kibaki’s nor Raila’s,” he said.

The PM assured Kenyans of the political will to deliver a new constitution and said that a “no” vote should be avoided during the referendum.

“There must be a consensus on the constitutional reforms because I am sure the good will is there,” he said.

Mr Odinga said imperial presidential systems through which holders of office abused powers were quickly fading.

“Imperial presidency is what Africans are running away from because it has no checks and balances. Purely presidential and parliamentary systems have worked in mature democracies,” he said.

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Experts present hybrid draft law to MPs’ committee

The Committee of Experts (CoE) on Friday presented a hybrid draft constitution to Parliament.

And MPs, through the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Constitution Review, expressed hope that consensus would be reached on contentious issues to pave way for a new constitution.

While Kenyans were unanimous that the powers of the country’s chief executive must be curtailed and be subject to checks and balances “they continue to root for either a parliamentary system of government or a pure presidential system,” said CoE chairman Nzamba Kitonga.

Mr Kitonga was speaking during the official handing over of a revised draft constitution to the parliamentary committee headed by Mr Abdikadir Mohamed after the views of Kenyans collected during 30 days of public debate were included. Some 39,439 written memoranda containing 1.7 million views were collected.

Conflicting

On Friday, Mr Kitonga said that following conflicting submissions, his committee viewed a hybrid system of government “as the best workable compromise”.

The committee said that a parliamentary or presidential system would polarise the country and that changes had been made in the composition of the office of the President and that of the Prime Minister to avoid conflict.

There is a clearer definition of the Executive, with the authority of the President in decision-making delineated, and the holding of regular consultations between the President and PM elaborated.

While the PM runs the government, the President has a supervisory role “that is evident in the stated requirement that the Prime Minister reports to the President”.

The committee further retained the Constitutional Court as a dispute resolution mechanism for any conflicts that might arise in the implementation of the new constitution.

To cut on costs, the committee proposed a two-tier devolved structure of government–national and county–instead of one that included a regional system.

Counties

The experts further recommended that the original 47 districts be used to determine the counties. If accepted by MPs and Kenyans, the Senate will largely deal with proposed legislation and matters related to devolved governments. Senators representing counties will be elected directly.

The National Assembly structure and voting remain the same. The Judiciary is to be overhauled in a “slow, systematic, voluntary and dignified” manner.

Despite the grand coalition leaders’ agreement on the removal of the clause on MPs being dismissed, the experts said it enjoyed considerable public support as did the establishment of an independent commission to set the salaries and perks of all state officers.

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Wamalwa to flex political muscle at rally in ODM’s stronghold

MPs from left Musikari Kombo, Eugene Wamalwa and Bonny Khalwale. PHOTO/ MICHAEL MUTE

By LUCAS BARASA and PETER LEFTIEPosted Saturday, January 23 2010 at 20:00

In Summary

• POLITICS: Members of KKK alliance plan to use occasion to gauge whether they can make inroads into Western Province and eat into Orange party’s huge support in the region.

Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa’s political future faces the acid test on Saturday when he hosts a rally in Bungoma described by organisers as “a major political event”.

Proponents of the so called KKK (Kalenjin, Kikuyu, Kamba) alliance plan to use the rally to gauge whether they can make inroads into Western Province and eat into ODM’s huge support base in the area.

The rally, which Mr Wamalwa says he will use to announce his 2012 presidential bid, has sent jitters across the political spectrum in the province with some area MPs vowing to give it a wide berth.

ODM won majority of the parliamentary seats – 18 of 24 – in the province. Local Government minister Musalia Mudavadi, who has since established himself as the most senior politician in the province, is facing challenges from both Mr Wamalwa and Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo.

Mr Wamalwa is also seeking to wrest the Ford Kenya chairmanship from nominated MP Musikari Kombo.

Mr Mudavadi is also facing competition from ODM deputy party leader and colleague William Ruto whose allies are said to have been holding secret meetings in the province to strategise how Mr Ruto could penetrate the region.

Sources told the Sunday Nation that Mr Ruto, Kanu chairman Uhuru Kenyatta and Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka were keenly watching events in Western Province with a view to cash in on Mr Wamalwa’s efforts to eat into ODM’s support in the region.

The three are said to be quietly backing Mr Wamalwa’s political moves with the intention of entering a political deal with him ahead of the 2012 elections.

Show solidarity

Mr Ruto’s key Rift Valley ally Joshua Kutuny is among those planning to attend the Bungoma rally to show solidarity with Mr Wamalwa, whom he describes as a “like-minded politician”.

Mr Musyoka’s spokesman Kaplich Barsito was, however, not certain whether the VP would attend the rally.

Lucas Watta, a member of the Western Province Elders Advisory Council, scoffed at the rally saying it would ignite unnecessary tensions in the area at a time when the residents were still pursuing healing and reconciliation following the violence after the 2007 General Elections.

“This region was one of the worst affected. Our people had their ears chopped off in Mt Elgon. Many people were also killed in Trans Nzoia. What we need is peace. It is too early to start political campaigns,” Mr Watta said.

Mr Watta, a Bungoma nominated councillor, said Western Province residents were fully behind Mr Mudavadi’s “being the most senior politician here”.

“It is Mr Mudavadi who will show us the way. We don’t want political novices to scuttle our road to the country’s leadership. Mr Wamalwa should have held the rally in his Saboti constituency or in Othaya where the Simama Kenya leader hails from,” he said.

The rally, expected to be attended by President Kibaki’s son, Jimmy, who is the patron of the Simama Kenya initiative, has also met some resistance from a section of local leaders led by assistant minister Alfred Khang’ati on grounds that it was likely to “provoke” the residents who allegedly are of another political persuasion (ODM).

Tony Gachoka, an ally of the younger Kibaki, told the Sunday Nation he had been camping in Bungoma for more than a week “to prepare the ground”.

Kimilili MP Dr Eseli Simiyu has also criticised Mr Wamalwa’s decision to run for the presidency saying it is misplaced.

But Sports and Youth Affairs assistant minister Kabando wa Kabando said it is commendable to see more youthful leaders vie for the top-most leadership position in the country

“It is okay for youthful leaders to shape a new patriotic political dispensation with fresh ideas to propel Kenya into the next generation of leadership,” he said.

Mr Kabando added that the youthful leadership should, however, shun ethnic chieftainship and instead seek to unite the people of Kenya.

In an interview with the Sunday Nation, Mr Wamalwa said his quest to become Kenya’s fourth president was unstoppable.

The Saboti MP also spoke about his association with the country’s leading politicians including the First Family, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Mr Musyoka.

The MP also defended his involvement with Simama Kenya.

He stated that he would use the rally organised by Simama Kenya to formally launch his presidential campaign.

“The rally is on, and all are invited. Those who have criticised me are free to attend, and maybe they will have an opportunity to listen to me and change their minds,” said Mr Wamalwa.

He dismissed claims that his association with Simama Kenya was likely to dent his political standing, especially in Western Kenya as it is perceived to be a Central Province outfit.

“Simama Kenya is all about youth empowerment. It is out to ensure that the younger generation plays a critical role in the management of our country’s affairs. The youth agenda is a subject close to my heart,” he said.

Mr Wamalwa also defended his links with Mr Ruto and Tourism minister Najib Balala who have broken ranks with Mr Odinga, saying there was nothing sinister about it.

“There is nothing wrong with me appearing in a function with honourable Ruto. He is my neighbour at the constituency, and we maintain very cordial relations,” he said.

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High intrigue behind ODM’s change of tune

Gichugu MP Martha Karua and nominated MP Millie Odhiambo leave the conference room at Great Rift Valley Lodge, Naivasha, where the Parliamentary Select Committee is discussing the draft constitution. Photo/HEZRON NJOROGE

By GEKARA MAYAKAPosted Saturday, January 23 2010 at 20:00

In Summary

• CONSTITUTION: Reports that senior leaders of the party who have long voiced loud opposition to what they called ‘imperial presidency’ suddenly showed up at the Naivasha retreat to support it raise more questions than answers about their game plan

If Mzee Joseph Kiboi Theuri was to return from the grave, he would disbelieve the parliamentary team that has been holed up in Naivasha trying to hammer out a deal on the constitution.

On Thursday afternoon of October 18, 1968, Mr Theuri, the first Nyeri MP, had put a strong fight for creation of the post of PM. Mr Theuri wanted a government headed by the prime minister who also chaired Cabinet, a premier who “would attend Parliament to be heckled by everybody”.

His motion was defeated and he died before the post was created.

The House team has all but spelt a death sentence to the position of prime minister with their choice of a pure presidential system.

Unless the decision is overturned later, the powerful and influential post which has graced Kenya’s political landscape twice — held by founding President Jomo Kenyatta and now Mr Raila Odinga — will be removed from the public bureaucracy.

The Naivasha team’s decision, which is likely to hold to the end, upsets the political arithmetic that calculating politicians had begun to place on the post as an attractive bargaining tool.

According to the House team, the outcome was informed by the desire by Kenyans for one centre of power with strong checks — probably a lesson from the dysfunctional PNU-ODM coalition which occasionally projects the President, Prime Minister and their ministers reading from different scripts.

But perhaps more intriguing is the sudden change of heart by forces initially opposed to the presidential system in favour of the parliamentary system, notably politicians in Mr Odinga’s ODM party.

ODM leaders have been shouting themselves hoarse in support of the parliamentary system as the best way to check an “imperial presidency”. They had wanted a governance structure with the prime minister as both head of state and government and a figurehead president.

But sources close to the Naivasha negotiations who were unwilling to be identified breaking House rules because the talks were held behind closed doors, revealed that the proposal to adopt a presidential system was initiated by ODM deputy leader William Ruto and seconded by his colleague, deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi.

On January 12, Mr Mudavadi addressed a press conference after a meeting of ODM ministers — including Mr Ruto — where he announced that the party will root for parliamentary system in a new constitution. The meeting was chaired by Mr Odinga, the party leader.

He said ODM was for the system where government is accountable to the people through Parliament as opposed to the presidential system which he described as “undemocratic and opaque”.

He said the concentration of power in one centre had bred tribalism, dictatorship and bad governance.

“A parliamentary system will cover the diversity of our nation,” he said.

He said those calling for retention of imperial presidency were not “serious about having an accountable government”.

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Deal or no deal

The PNU team gathers for consultation
Politics
Deal or bad deal?

The PNU team gathers for consultations during the ongoing constitution talks involving the Parliamentary Select Committee at the Great Rift Valley Lodge in Naivasha on Thursday. PHOTO/HEZRON NJOROGE

The PNU team gathers for consultations during the ongoing constitution talks involving the Parliamentary Select Committee at the Great Rift Valley Lodge in Naivasha on Thursday. PHOTO/HEZRON NJOROGE
By PETER KAGWANJAPosted Saturday, January 23 2010 at 20:00

In Summary

* CONSTITUTION: Wheeler-dealing and tactical compromises at the Naivasha retreat have killed the historically controversial PM’s office only to shift the site of deadly power struggles to ethnic federalism

In a dramatic twist of events, the Parliamentary Select Committee deliberating on the revised draft constitution unanimously adopted an American-style presidential system for Kenya.

This move has sounded the death knell for the short-lived office of the prime minister. However, the decision has also re-opened the age-old acrimonious debate on Majimboism — Kenya’s homegrown ethnic federalism — which has mined the road to constitution making for decades.

The meeting of parliamentarians in the Great Rift Valley Lodge, Naivasha, proposed a powerful president as Kenya’s chief executive elected by a popular vote of 50 per cent plus one and majority vote in the counties.

Inadvertently, both the Harmonised Draft Constitution published by the Committee of Expert on Constitutional Reform on November 17, 2009 and its January 8, 2010 revised version, provided for a Russian-style mongrel executive.

In Russia, the Prime Minister (Vladmir Putin) is elected by parliament (Duma) as head of the Government of the Russian Federation and his erstwhile protégé, Dimitry Medvedev, is elected on a popular vote as the head of state in a power-sharing government.

A majority of Kenyans who submitted their views to the CoE on the Draft Constitution rejected a bifurcated executive, arguing two centres of power pose a risk to national unity and stability in an ethnically-divided country and handing over power to a prime minister elected by a handful of parliamentarians undermines the tenets of democracy, the principle of accountability and the sovereignty of the electorate.

How to dismantle the legacy of an “imperial’’ presidency has been the bone of contention between partners in the grand coalition government of Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s ODM and President Mwai Kibaki’s PNU.

To its credit, the PSC drew attention to Parliament, Judiciary and devolved government units as the natural and sufficient curbs on abuse of power by a powerful president, thus exposing the philosophically flawed view that the office of the PM can, in any way, prevent such abuses without creating a dysfunctional government.

For the second, and seemingly the last time, the option of a powerful president ends the short-lived era of the office of the prime minister in Kenya’s history. Jomo Kenyatta became Kenya’s first prime minister under the 1963 majimbo constitution, but the office was quickly abolished by the first amendment Act of 1964, which created an executive president.

The shift of opinion in the public sphere in favour of the return of a powerful presidency, albeit with the basic curbs on excesses, comes as a “fare-thee-well” to the controversial office of PM which was re-introduced by the National Accord that ended the 2008 post-election mayhem.

Indeed, the office of the premier has become an ugly mark on the face of electoral democracy in Africa, from Madagascar to Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya to Zimbabwe, where power-sharing coalitions have given way to adversorial and dysfunctional governments, which have torpedoed development, poverty alleviation and service delivery to the vulnerable sectors of society. This has fostered extreme public aversion to a divided and ineffectual national leadership, everywhere identified with offices of the PM.

However, the demise of “premiership” and the return to glory of the “presidential system” signified a tactical compromise on the part of the ODM power elite, largely imposed on them by the swing of public opinion in favour of a popularly elected president against the backdrop of a looming referendum on the road to the crucial 2012 elections.

In a sense, it also highlighted an emerging political consensus arising from the cutting of deals between sections of the PNU allied to Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and those of the ODM faction aligned to Mr William Ruto in the wake of the disarray in the ODM over the Mau issue.

Despite this, the deal-making season has not put a stop to deadly intra-elite games to capture state power. Instead, the new-found consensus on a strong presidency is simply a tactical shift of the site of the deadly elite struggles that plunged the country into the 2008 catastrophe to devolved government units more as alternative fountains of power and influence than checks on the executive power.

Not surprisingly, both the Odinga and Ruto factions of ODM have quickly tabled proposals calling for one shade or another of the defunct majimbo or federal government system as constitution making enters its dark night of the long knives.

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