Post by abdulmote on Aug 25, 2005 13:36:11 GMT 3
Everyone seems to be in haste of saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’. It scares me to think that in the end, we may just lead ourselves into the slaughter house without knowing so! To be honest, after all the euphoria this constitution has created in being released, I still find myself stuck in confusion and fear of being deceived. And with that, I cautiously tell myself to be patient and hold my answer, for as long as it will take. No jumping to conclusion in haste just for the sake of expressing my ‘emotions’. We have the time to make up our minds when informed, and so lets make use of it to our advantage and that is wisdom.
More than anything, what scares me most is the chapter on the executive. Whilst the rest of the document seems reasonably fair, I also still find myself reluctant to trust it all. It certainly requires closer scrutiny so as to be understood and appreciated fully. If what I had gathered on the LD P is true of their intent, that they are calling for specialist advice on the document, then that is certainly the way to go. The document has been cleverly written, and there can be a lot hidden in its meanings, that our focus of attention may be easily deceived into the ‘UNINTENDED TRAP’!!!!
Having said that, I can appreciate the urge of many to go over it and get it done with! What is it, is it a ‘no’ or a ‘yes’.
Ladies and gentlemen, what we have to understand in this score is that a constitution is a very important document. So important that once enacted, you may just find yourself subjected to its power for the remainder of your lifetime without any chance of changing as many might think they could given a second choice, and that is where the danger lies.
And so it follows that, before anyone makes the decision to accept or reject it, one has to weigh ALL the PROS and CONES and be able to establish what improvements if any the new constitution is about to bring, and if there any pitfalls, how severe are they in order to determine the value of the risk to be taken!!!
Were I to do it my way (and that is my intention although time consuming), I would first try to compare all the three constitutions, i.e. the current, the Bomas Draft and the new, which is subject to the referendum, with the view of ascertaining which gave us what, and the purpose behind the same, and that is no easy task!
Secondly, I would then compare specifically, the chapter on the executive and read it thoroughly whilst trying to envision any potential meanings and powers that may be given and HIDEEN within! But that we should all do!
But for now, it seems we are in the ‘jumping’ mode as it were, and frankly speaking, I do feel the same but wisdom is restraining me!
Anyway, just to give you an insight of what I think I am confronted with for now without going so much into details; when it comes to the possibility of amending the new constitution, what we have to bear in mind and this serious! Is that any proposed amendments shall ONLY be brought back for the second and subsequent ‘readings’ in the Parliament after at least NINETY DAYS! That is three months people!
And I say this is serious, knowing how quickly we as Kenyans tend to forget like blind mice we are, given a very short time! Three months??!!! And just for the second reading?? WHY so??
At a glimpse, another area of concern is the ‘Security Council’. It is as per the new constitution, made of the seven ‘politicians’. Conspicuously missing in the same are the Commanders of the armed forces, heads of internal security such as the police, and intelligence as well. If you ask me, I am puzzled as to why the need to exclude such important personnel in such a council! But for the sake of assumptions upon it, I would say it so created in order to give the president, who is meant to be the chairman of that council, the control of all and everything that may fall in its decision making capacity, exclusive powers to dictate its functions without any critical input of those others! Why so?? You tell me.
Another area of concern is the status of the Deputy president! This chap, whoever it may be; does not have to stand for any elections whatsoever for him or her to occupy such a powerful seat! And people were busy with the PM thing! I say just keep it aside for now.
The Deputy president only has to be the so called running mate of the president and there you have it! In other words, it is the president who will have the powers of deciding who his deputy shall be! But what is so special about it, is that the said deputy can assume the presidential powers in his absence or demise, as in case of his death, and CONTINUE to do so WITHOUT having to stand for ANY ELECTIONS for remainder of the term! The current constitution provides for an election in ninety days in such a case but not in the new constitution. Now that is some suggestion here!
Imagine this; were the elected president to die say within the first year of his being elected, then the (unelected) deputy takes over as the PRESIDENT of the republic, for the remainder of the term without any elections whatsoever! Tell me, are you comfortable with this? And you all worried about an ‘unelected’ PM? Here you are literally talking of president’, and as powerful as one can be!!
Mambo bado, nitarudi baadae!
---------------------------------------
And you know what, I have decided not keep you waiting as I go along scrutinising this document. The more I read it, the more I get scared of it!
Just consider this; The president is the one who is entitled to nominate virtually any person as his deputy as given by the constitution. And the nominated deputy does not have to be an elected member of Parliament or anything else to qualify for the same, apart from being a qualifying candidate who can vie for an MP's seat.
Remember also that there is no age limit as to who can become a president! Now then, imagine the president appointing his son-in-law, or his grandson for that matter who is just in his late teens as his deputy. Imagine then that the president thereafter dies a few months down line! Wow!
What will then follow is that we will then have an unelected president for the remainder of the term( read an heir to the throne!) with all the trims, whether it is four and half years or what!!!! And you thought the appointed PM seat was bad??!
Besides, ladies and gentlemen, the president DOES NOT have to report to the Parliament on regular bases, apart from giving his mandatory annual speech from time to time, that he may account for his governance! Unlike the Bomas' PM who would have to fight it out before the MPs almost on weekly basis. How pathetic eh!
Another thing is this fallacy of the impeachment of the president; If and when the impeachment procedure is satisfied, it will require SEVENTY FIVE percent of the Parliamentary votes to carry it through! Why not sixty five as needed to amend the constitution? And Murungi has been telling us that the president can be impeached? Can you imagine how difficult they have made that one?
I am not going being to be methodical at this heated stage so please bear with me and check this out:-
Some are suggesting that electing the president has been made difficult as given in the constitution (today's Nation editorial). But what the same people have failed to mention is that apart from making the presidential election difficult, the Constitution has also made it easier for the strong potential candidates and that is the fallacy of the game!
Section 149 provides that if there is no clear winner after the initial presidential election, there will be another election to be held in twenty one days from the same, and only the TWO candidates with the highest and second highest number of votes will battle it out. And guess what; this time its to hell with all those initial conditions, and so whoever wins with the simple majority carries the day! Difficult eh?
It is beginning to stink!!
And another thing that struck me on matters of national security, but mind you I am just being speculative here and would encourage you to make your own mind about it:-
S 255 (2) d, and its on page 142 of the pdf document in case you wonder, provides; 'recruitment by the national security organs shall reflect the diversity of Kenyan people in equitable proportions!
Now some one might suggest what is wrong with being 'equitable' as to proportions?
Any one remembers the Nyayo times when it was rumoured that akina Moi were deliberately filling up the vacancies in the national security organs with some of their 'own'? Well, I am not suggesting that this IS the case here, but can you imagine populating and ensuring that the said organs have recruited at least FORTY PERCENT of a given ethnic group? How equitable then do you think that would be? A powerful president?
And another thing people, this getting interesting; Heard of all the hullabaloos on the Parliament having the power to vet many if not all of the presidential appointees? Well, THAT IS A LOAD OF BOB, as my girl would have said it! The truth is, whilst it is a fact that the parliament can say no to some of those appointees, it is but only for a limited number of times! It follows that once the MPs have rejected the president's choice for a couple of times, then the president can GO ON to nominate whoever he pleases and that stays as he pleases!!
More than anything, what scares me most is the chapter on the executive. Whilst the rest of the document seems reasonably fair, I also still find myself reluctant to trust it all. It certainly requires closer scrutiny so as to be understood and appreciated fully. If what I had gathered on the LD P is true of their intent, that they are calling for specialist advice on the document, then that is certainly the way to go. The document has been cleverly written, and there can be a lot hidden in its meanings, that our focus of attention may be easily deceived into the ‘UNINTENDED TRAP’!!!!
Having said that, I can appreciate the urge of many to go over it and get it done with! What is it, is it a ‘no’ or a ‘yes’.
Ladies and gentlemen, what we have to understand in this score is that a constitution is a very important document. So important that once enacted, you may just find yourself subjected to its power for the remainder of your lifetime without any chance of changing as many might think they could given a second choice, and that is where the danger lies.
And so it follows that, before anyone makes the decision to accept or reject it, one has to weigh ALL the PROS and CONES and be able to establish what improvements if any the new constitution is about to bring, and if there any pitfalls, how severe are they in order to determine the value of the risk to be taken!!!
Were I to do it my way (and that is my intention although time consuming), I would first try to compare all the three constitutions, i.e. the current, the Bomas Draft and the new, which is subject to the referendum, with the view of ascertaining which gave us what, and the purpose behind the same, and that is no easy task!
Secondly, I would then compare specifically, the chapter on the executive and read it thoroughly whilst trying to envision any potential meanings and powers that may be given and HIDEEN within! But that we should all do!
But for now, it seems we are in the ‘jumping’ mode as it were, and frankly speaking, I do feel the same but wisdom is restraining me!
Anyway, just to give you an insight of what I think I am confronted with for now without going so much into details; when it comes to the possibility of amending the new constitution, what we have to bear in mind and this serious! Is that any proposed amendments shall ONLY be brought back for the second and subsequent ‘readings’ in the Parliament after at least NINETY DAYS! That is three months people!
And I say this is serious, knowing how quickly we as Kenyans tend to forget like blind mice we are, given a very short time! Three months??!!! And just for the second reading?? WHY so??
At a glimpse, another area of concern is the ‘Security Council’. It is as per the new constitution, made of the seven ‘politicians’. Conspicuously missing in the same are the Commanders of the armed forces, heads of internal security such as the police, and intelligence as well. If you ask me, I am puzzled as to why the need to exclude such important personnel in such a council! But for the sake of assumptions upon it, I would say it so created in order to give the president, who is meant to be the chairman of that council, the control of all and everything that may fall in its decision making capacity, exclusive powers to dictate its functions without any critical input of those others! Why so?? You tell me.
Another area of concern is the status of the Deputy president! This chap, whoever it may be; does not have to stand for any elections whatsoever for him or her to occupy such a powerful seat! And people were busy with the PM thing! I say just keep it aside for now.
The Deputy president only has to be the so called running mate of the president and there you have it! In other words, it is the president who will have the powers of deciding who his deputy shall be! But what is so special about it, is that the said deputy can assume the presidential powers in his absence or demise, as in case of his death, and CONTINUE to do so WITHOUT having to stand for ANY ELECTIONS for remainder of the term! The current constitution provides for an election in ninety days in such a case but not in the new constitution. Now that is some suggestion here!
Imagine this; were the elected president to die say within the first year of his being elected, then the (unelected) deputy takes over as the PRESIDENT of the republic, for the remainder of the term without any elections whatsoever! Tell me, are you comfortable with this? And you all worried about an ‘unelected’ PM? Here you are literally talking of president’, and as powerful as one can be!!
Mambo bado, nitarudi baadae!
---------------------------------------
And you know what, I have decided not keep you waiting as I go along scrutinising this document. The more I read it, the more I get scared of it!
Just consider this; The president is the one who is entitled to nominate virtually any person as his deputy as given by the constitution. And the nominated deputy does not have to be an elected member of Parliament or anything else to qualify for the same, apart from being a qualifying candidate who can vie for an MP's seat.
Remember also that there is no age limit as to who can become a president! Now then, imagine the president appointing his son-in-law, or his grandson for that matter who is just in his late teens as his deputy. Imagine then that the president thereafter dies a few months down line! Wow!
What will then follow is that we will then have an unelected president for the remainder of the term( read an heir to the throne!) with all the trims, whether it is four and half years or what!!!! And you thought the appointed PM seat was bad??!
Besides, ladies and gentlemen, the president DOES NOT have to report to the Parliament on regular bases, apart from giving his mandatory annual speech from time to time, that he may account for his governance! Unlike the Bomas' PM who would have to fight it out before the MPs almost on weekly basis. How pathetic eh!
Another thing is this fallacy of the impeachment of the president; If and when the impeachment procedure is satisfied, it will require SEVENTY FIVE percent of the Parliamentary votes to carry it through! Why not sixty five as needed to amend the constitution? And Murungi has been telling us that the president can be impeached? Can you imagine how difficult they have made that one?
I am not going being to be methodical at this heated stage so please bear with me and check this out:-
Some are suggesting that electing the president has been made difficult as given in the constitution (today's Nation editorial). But what the same people have failed to mention is that apart from making the presidential election difficult, the Constitution has also made it easier for the strong potential candidates and that is the fallacy of the game!
Section 149 provides that if there is no clear winner after the initial presidential election, there will be another election to be held in twenty one days from the same, and only the TWO candidates with the highest and second highest number of votes will battle it out. And guess what; this time its to hell with all those initial conditions, and so whoever wins with the simple majority carries the day! Difficult eh?
It is beginning to stink!!
And another thing that struck me on matters of national security, but mind you I am just being speculative here and would encourage you to make your own mind about it:-
S 255 (2) d, and its on page 142 of the pdf document in case you wonder, provides; 'recruitment by the national security organs shall reflect the diversity of Kenyan people in equitable proportions!
Now some one might suggest what is wrong with being 'equitable' as to proportions?
Any one remembers the Nyayo times when it was rumoured that akina Moi were deliberately filling up the vacancies in the national security organs with some of their 'own'? Well, I am not suggesting that this IS the case here, but can you imagine populating and ensuring that the said organs have recruited at least FORTY PERCENT of a given ethnic group? How equitable then do you think that would be? A powerful president?
And another thing people, this getting interesting; Heard of all the hullabaloos on the Parliament having the power to vet many if not all of the presidential appointees? Well, THAT IS A LOAD OF BOB, as my girl would have said it! The truth is, whilst it is a fact that the parliament can say no to some of those appointees, it is but only for a limited number of times! It follows that once the MPs have rejected the president's choice for a couple of times, then the president can GO ON to nominate whoever he pleases and that stays as he pleases!!
