Post by adongo12345 on Dec 1, 2006 2:50:45 GMT 3
By Adongo Ogony
President Mwai Kibaki could hardly mask his anger at the ruling of the East African Court of Justice that barred the nine Kenyan EALA nominees from taking their seats alongside their colleagues from Tanzania and Uganda. I don’t blame the president. Imagine the humiliation and indignity of sitting there, chairing the EAC meeting when the M.P’s from his country have been sent home for alleged fraudulent selection process. This is embarrassing not just to the president, but also to all Kenyans. In all fairness Kibaki and his government brought this embarrassment on themselves.
When the government trashed the list given to them by the political parties and instead inserted their own choices in a bid to punish groups like the LDP it may have looked like the usual pettiness of Kibaki’s people stretching political rivalry to ridiculous levels. Unfortunately for them the East African Court of Justice doesn’t seem keen on taking instructions from Kibaki’s State House.
Kibaki’s complaint is that the EA Court of Justice is interfering with the sovereignty of Kenya by promising to rule, after a full hearing, on the legality of the Kenyan selection process.
“While recognizing and upholding the integrity and decision of the court, I nevertheless wish to observe that a fundamental principle of the East African Community Treaty is that of sovereign equality” said the president in a speech he gave before the four heads of state from Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. He then went on to assert that the treaty did not cede national sovereignty to regional institutions. Kibaki who is known for his polite demeanor must have been fuming inside to let this out of his chest.
I find it in bad taste that our president wants to interfere with the operations of the East African Court of Justice. At any rate the veiled threat to the Justices of the court about sovereignty of the nations comprising the EAC should not be taken lightly. It may be one thing to tell the Kenyan Chief Justice what to do, but stretching these wretched habits to the EA Court of Justice could set a bad precedent where heads of state will pound the courts whenever the courts make decisions not favourable to them.
At any rate in my opinion the president was dead wrong in his argument. Incidentally Kibaki’s line of thinking is the same argument advanced by our A.G Amos Wako over which the EA Court made the following ruling as read by the V.P of the Court, Joseph Mulenga.
“We are satisfied that the court can determine the process of election in a partner state as to its lawfulness or otherwise under the relevant articles of the treaty”
For those who do not remember the genesis of this saga, it started when Kibaki insiders decided to alter the list of EALA nominees given to them by Madame Charity Ngilu in her capacity as Narc Chair person. The duty of presenting the list to parliament fell on the hands of the V.P Moody Awori in his capacity as Leader of Government Business. Instead of just presenting the list as presented like they did previously, the wakoras in government decided they would delete some names and insert their own. The aggrieved parties then took the matter to the East African Court of Justice and the government laughed the matter off thinking it was a slum dunk for them. It seems the cornerstone of their argument was this sovereignty issue. They thought they could screw the other fellas because there is no system for appeal. That is how we ended up in the mess.
So why is Kibaki wrong? Our president is wrong because the sovereignty of the nation state, which he refers to, does not belong to the government or the politically correct sector of the day but rather to people of our country. Those who took issue with the selection process, or its abuse thereof, and took the matter to EA Court of Justice are not foreigners or aliens from outer space, they are Kenyans, who are very much part of the sovereign nation of Kenya. If Tanzanians or Ugandans took issue with our selection process and the court agreed with them to examine the case we would be right to say our sovereignty is being infringed upon. As it is, the sovereignty argument and the president has no leg to stand on with regards to this case because it was filed by Kenyans who felt we did not follow the rules we set for ourselves on how the selection/election would be done.
We could also have a case of infringement on our sovereignty if the court were to take it upon itself to dictate to us what system of selection or election we should use or worse still if the court was to rule that our system is bad. In this case the court is merely going to establish whether we followed the system we set ourselves for the exercise. This is a good thing. If we collectively set the rules, we should follow them and if someone wants to abuse their executive powers to shot change their political rivals and bend the rules they should be held accountable. The EA Court of Justice is perfectly in order to try to determine whether Kenya used the rules it set for the process or if someone is trying to cheat. If the court finds we did not follow the rules and procedure we agreed on, they should nullify the nominations. At any rate I think the damage is already done, but that is another story.
Secondly there has to be a process to ensure that the selection or election procedures to determine who sits in the EALA are transparent. If there is no system to seek redress when people are fraudulently smuggled to take these seats we will end up with a rogue institution that may become the laughing stock of the region. As it is the Kenyan contingent is an embarrassment. It is loaded with unelectable political rejects and that is from all the parties. Anyhow does Kibaki has an alternative way to seek redress in case of election frauds for EALA members?
There are a few lessons we should learn from this unfortunate saga. One is that there should be a limit to the pettiness and vindictiveness within the Kibaki government. The government embarrassing itself and the whole country to score cheap political points against the LDP and other opposition forces makes fools of all of us. It is not worth the effort. The V.P Moody Awori had no business altering the list of M.P’s as agreed upon by the political parties. Those who forced the V.P to make that move should be ashamed of themselves.
Secondly, the parties should negotiate the matter, amicably agree on whom to nominate, withdraw the case from the EA Court of Justice and stop holding the EALA at ransom because of their bizarre partisan antics.
Parliament should revisit this whole issue and come out with a better system of electing M.P’s to the EALA. If we continue with the system as it is now, Kenyan representatives to the EALA will be a mediocre bunch of losers that nobody will pay attention to.
Last but not least the heads of state should revisit the treaty to ensure that there is a solid system of electoral scrutiny to resolve cases where there are disputes and allegations of fraud in determining representation. Incidentally this is going to be a big issue. For the EAC to thrive we need a transparent and fair dispute resolution process that are respected by all parties. There are going to be trade disputes and all sorts of issues and our success will be depend on how we are able to resolve those problems to the satisfaction of all parties.
In the meantime I am hoping we do not export our quarrelsome habits and electoral thievery to the EALA. More important I am praying the wanasiasa of Kenya are not going to pull a first one and stage a coup at the EALA. We will be watching.
The writer is a human rights activist.
President Mwai Kibaki could hardly mask his anger at the ruling of the East African Court of Justice that barred the nine Kenyan EALA nominees from taking their seats alongside their colleagues from Tanzania and Uganda. I don’t blame the president. Imagine the humiliation and indignity of sitting there, chairing the EAC meeting when the M.P’s from his country have been sent home for alleged fraudulent selection process. This is embarrassing not just to the president, but also to all Kenyans. In all fairness Kibaki and his government brought this embarrassment on themselves.
When the government trashed the list given to them by the political parties and instead inserted their own choices in a bid to punish groups like the LDP it may have looked like the usual pettiness of Kibaki’s people stretching political rivalry to ridiculous levels. Unfortunately for them the East African Court of Justice doesn’t seem keen on taking instructions from Kibaki’s State House.
Kibaki’s complaint is that the EA Court of Justice is interfering with the sovereignty of Kenya by promising to rule, after a full hearing, on the legality of the Kenyan selection process.
“While recognizing and upholding the integrity and decision of the court, I nevertheless wish to observe that a fundamental principle of the East African Community Treaty is that of sovereign equality” said the president in a speech he gave before the four heads of state from Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. He then went on to assert that the treaty did not cede national sovereignty to regional institutions. Kibaki who is known for his polite demeanor must have been fuming inside to let this out of his chest.
I find it in bad taste that our president wants to interfere with the operations of the East African Court of Justice. At any rate the veiled threat to the Justices of the court about sovereignty of the nations comprising the EAC should not be taken lightly. It may be one thing to tell the Kenyan Chief Justice what to do, but stretching these wretched habits to the EA Court of Justice could set a bad precedent where heads of state will pound the courts whenever the courts make decisions not favourable to them.
At any rate in my opinion the president was dead wrong in his argument. Incidentally Kibaki’s line of thinking is the same argument advanced by our A.G Amos Wako over which the EA Court made the following ruling as read by the V.P of the Court, Joseph Mulenga.
“We are satisfied that the court can determine the process of election in a partner state as to its lawfulness or otherwise under the relevant articles of the treaty”
For those who do not remember the genesis of this saga, it started when Kibaki insiders decided to alter the list of EALA nominees given to them by Madame Charity Ngilu in her capacity as Narc Chair person. The duty of presenting the list to parliament fell on the hands of the V.P Moody Awori in his capacity as Leader of Government Business. Instead of just presenting the list as presented like they did previously, the wakoras in government decided they would delete some names and insert their own. The aggrieved parties then took the matter to the East African Court of Justice and the government laughed the matter off thinking it was a slum dunk for them. It seems the cornerstone of their argument was this sovereignty issue. They thought they could screw the other fellas because there is no system for appeal. That is how we ended up in the mess.
So why is Kibaki wrong? Our president is wrong because the sovereignty of the nation state, which he refers to, does not belong to the government or the politically correct sector of the day but rather to people of our country. Those who took issue with the selection process, or its abuse thereof, and took the matter to EA Court of Justice are not foreigners or aliens from outer space, they are Kenyans, who are very much part of the sovereign nation of Kenya. If Tanzanians or Ugandans took issue with our selection process and the court agreed with them to examine the case we would be right to say our sovereignty is being infringed upon. As it is, the sovereignty argument and the president has no leg to stand on with regards to this case because it was filed by Kenyans who felt we did not follow the rules we set for ourselves on how the selection/election would be done.
We could also have a case of infringement on our sovereignty if the court were to take it upon itself to dictate to us what system of selection or election we should use or worse still if the court was to rule that our system is bad. In this case the court is merely going to establish whether we followed the system we set ourselves for the exercise. This is a good thing. If we collectively set the rules, we should follow them and if someone wants to abuse their executive powers to shot change their political rivals and bend the rules they should be held accountable. The EA Court of Justice is perfectly in order to try to determine whether Kenya used the rules it set for the process or if someone is trying to cheat. If the court finds we did not follow the rules and procedure we agreed on, they should nullify the nominations. At any rate I think the damage is already done, but that is another story.
Secondly there has to be a process to ensure that the selection or election procedures to determine who sits in the EALA are transparent. If there is no system to seek redress when people are fraudulently smuggled to take these seats we will end up with a rogue institution that may become the laughing stock of the region. As it is the Kenyan contingent is an embarrassment. It is loaded with unelectable political rejects and that is from all the parties. Anyhow does Kibaki has an alternative way to seek redress in case of election frauds for EALA members?
There are a few lessons we should learn from this unfortunate saga. One is that there should be a limit to the pettiness and vindictiveness within the Kibaki government. The government embarrassing itself and the whole country to score cheap political points against the LDP and other opposition forces makes fools of all of us. It is not worth the effort. The V.P Moody Awori had no business altering the list of M.P’s as agreed upon by the political parties. Those who forced the V.P to make that move should be ashamed of themselves.
Secondly, the parties should negotiate the matter, amicably agree on whom to nominate, withdraw the case from the EA Court of Justice and stop holding the EALA at ransom because of their bizarre partisan antics.
Parliament should revisit this whole issue and come out with a better system of electing M.P’s to the EALA. If we continue with the system as it is now, Kenyan representatives to the EALA will be a mediocre bunch of losers that nobody will pay attention to.
Last but not least the heads of state should revisit the treaty to ensure that there is a solid system of electoral scrutiny to resolve cases where there are disputes and allegations of fraud in determining representation. Incidentally this is going to be a big issue. For the EAC to thrive we need a transparent and fair dispute resolution process that are respected by all parties. There are going to be trade disputes and all sorts of issues and our success will be depend on how we are able to resolve those problems to the satisfaction of all parties.
In the meantime I am hoping we do not export our quarrelsome habits and electoral thievery to the EALA. More important I am praying the wanasiasa of Kenya are not going to pull a first one and stage a coup at the EALA. We will be watching.
The writer is a human rights activist.
