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One of the few Raila Odinga policies I do not agree with is the idea of pushing Kenya towards parliamentary democracy and concentrating all the power in parliament and the so-called honorable members of the august house.
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Also published today;
New twist in rape saga after a telephone call from the doctors
Quip of the day;
You have to wear the shoe to know where it pinches.
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Hey! Hold on a second. Parliament and Kenyan parliamentarians have a terrible image that is well deserved. These are the guys who increase their salaries and allowances at the drop of a hat. As you read this there are dozens of poverty stricken Kenyans plotting on how to get elected MP, not to help out constituents but for the sole purpose of putting an end to all their money troubles.
One of the first things the 10th parliament must do (I fear this is wishful thinking) is to reduce the salary of an MP to about Kshs 5,000 monthly. Let us have MPS who are going to parliament to improve the lot of Kenyans, and not simply to breath life into their ailing bank accounts.
As I have said here before, I love to study history and I’m a firm believer ion the adage that if you want to understand the future, dig into the past. Well my digging has come up with a gem.
There is clear proof that Kenyans hardly need expect anything different from what we have seen in our legislators.
The current parliament evolved from the Legco or legislative council. This was filled with mzungu farmers and idlers whose sole motive was to protect THEIR OWN INTERESTS in the British protectorate that was Kenya then. The settler population was small and when compared to the pompous racist guys that used to pollute the August house, one cannot strictly say they represented anybody but their individual selves.
Meanwhile the people who really needed representation, the majority of Kenyans (the natives) as they were referred to, were not represented. That began to change in 1957 when the first handful of African leaders were elected.
In other words, the tradition of parliament in Kenya ha always been self representation first and then maybe later something can be looked into concerning the rest of humanity.
Even as we now shout ourselves hoarse about our preferred presidential candidates, what has parliament done for the people of Kenya other than being a burden that we can hardly wait to vote out after 5 long years that seem to last forever.
Those who understand the spiritual know that the foundation of something is very important. The truth is that the foundation of our parliament is rotten to the core. Little wonder that we have seen over the years genuine honest people going to parliament with a genuine desire to help their constituents achieve something. Alas, the minute they get in there, they are overwhelmed by the spirit that rules the place and they start behaving exactly the same as the idiot who was there before them.
Maybe what we needed was not the much hyped renovation of the old place but a completely new location where we can put up new foundations of a new [parliament that will be different from what we have seen thus far.
Meanwhile I would appeal to Raila Odinga to rethink his intention of supporting the transfer of power to parliament. That is sheer madness. It is better to keep a strong executive, evil as it may be and have parliament acting as a check and balance. This is preferable in Kenya at the moment to the Westminster model of an all powerful parliament and a mere prime minister who is as powerful as his party is in the house.
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The deceptive and callous parliaments is jjust the symptom of a country with no running institution. Ours is personalized rule that is butressed in tribal loyalty. MPs are just being pragmatic by making hay when the sun is still shinning.
ReplyDeleteAll we need is a total overhaul that can only be offered by ba radical (get your pick). Yes one who will take a J. Rawlings stand (despite his many failings)of shooting economic sabauteurs in public. Otherwise the theiving will continue. With privatized and devolved corruption in the name of CDF, we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg. Kenya need a rebirth and institution running independent of office bearers and that long given our present mind frame.
Chris, POINT OF CORRECTION PLEASE.
ReplyDeleteBecause Raila will be elected under the current constitution, unlike a goofing Pr. Kibaki, his immediate task will be to FACILITATE a constitutional conference which will eventually lead Kenyans to voting in a referendum before the constitution is enacted. From your above post, you are insinuating that Raila will IMPOSE a parliamentary constitution on the Kenyan people when infact the process will first have to be endorsed by Kenyans themselves by way of a referendum. They may also reject it. Kindly correct this wild allegation Chris. (Be careful - we may soon propose a blogging (media) bill in parliament!)
Secondly, a parliamentary system of government does not mean "that all power is concentrated in the national assembly". Chris I expected you to know better than that.
The question of parliamentary vs presidential power is perhaps the single most contentious issue addressed in the constitutional reform debate. Devolution of executive power follows closely - and if you may remember, one Dr. Mbai sadly lost his life while serving as Charman of the devolution committee at Bomas. Although in theory the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government oversee one another's actions and seek to hold each other accountable, the power of the current presidency always takes precedence in practice. Look at the recent times, there has been increased parliamentary influence, but in fact real power remains heavily concentrated in the executive resulting to a puppet parliament and also leading to national voting patterns along ethnic lines. You will note that most ministers from Mt. Kenya region tend to champion the narrow interests of President Kibaki. Dont forget, Chris, on the national stage, MPs are the only legitimate representatives of the people on national stage thus empowering parliament is empowering the people. I have heard (and laughed) on several occassions when religious bodies (especially the church - & Mutava NCCK in particular) and the civil society trying to arrogate themselves as the peoples representative. While I appreciate their role in the reform battle, they are certainly not qualified to call themselves the peoples representatives at any forum.
A parliamentary system of government puts the goverment on the floor of the national assembly to be answerable to all public matters. The Prime Miinister has to attend parliamentary sessions in person The present set-up doesn't even require the President to attend parlimentary debate although he is himself an elected MP! I do not agree with MPs awarding themsleves pay rise and allowances, but I can see what you fear is that it is already a forecasted reality that Raila will be voted in President by a majority; and if the Bomas Draft is passed by Kenyans in a referendum, then Raila may be appointed Prime Minister. That fear is misplaced Chris. A modern society need not entertain road side declarations and senseless nolle prosequis by the AG that have become common place in the Kenyan political landscape.
All government projections for development, including the much hyped vision 2030, can only be achieved upon enactment of positive and comprehensive constitutional reforms that will among others devolve executive power and spread these to other constitutional offices including parliament and judiciary.
As exemplified by MPs and govt. officials (who go about arresting road contractors), Kenya is now a laissez-faire society of no rules, no respect of law, no checks and balances etc. A parliamentary system should appeal to all who have suffered under the presidential system, i.e. all of us. Not to make a cartoon of the topic but can you imagine 210 mini-Kibakis running around trying to contain 210 mini-Lucy Kibakis.
ReplyDeleteI digress, the current system has failed this country for decades. Presidents are first and foremost, politicians. Self preservation is their ultimate agenda. In the absence of the rule of law, atempts to trim presidential powers (decrees) and transfer to other arms of govt. is a “no brainer”. Those praying for an effective and uncorruptible president under the current system may as well pray for a united Africa. We just need to try something else…the blinder we are the better. Other than that, I have no strong opinion on the matter.
Phil,
ReplyDeleteRaila will not be elected as president of Kenya. Stop dreaming. He is a corrupt man. Can you tell Kenyans how the Kisumu Plant changed hands to the Odinga family. It is now a family business with fellow detainee Israel Agina at the top.
Raila, has used his community to enrich himself by collecting funds from 'welwishers' all over the world in the name of running for the presidency, including Gilbert Deya's 'miracle babies' donation.
On the constitutuion, he was chairman of the review commission and killed it as soon as he rose there. How?
He was appointed to that post during the copulation with Kanu under Moi and had his way in derailing it, only to come out in sheep's skin during the election time, reminding people that they will give a new constitution in 6 months. What happens if Njoya or any other pressure group goes to court stopping it. Unless his dicatorship style that has seen him sabotage fellow Luo MPs Dalmas Otieno, Raphael Ruju and Jim Orengo (remember Raila had Orengo detained on the way to his birth place). Do you call that a visionary leader. And can you remember what Prof Nyongo went through in 1997.
Yes, then wait for a Kibaki whitewash or a Kalonzo full-stop in ODM. Godspeed!!
I dont want to engage in the parliamentary vis-a vis presidential model debate. The presidential system makes more sense to me, period.
ReplyDeleteAbout 'raila will be elected...with ... imagination, i must admit it is funny. Does anybody really expect a Raila presidency this century? Raila Odinga reached the peak of his political career in 2001 when Moi made him minister and he had his people uncocking the champaigne for that feat. He will never go anywhere above where he is today, Do u get me? Raila Odinga will be mere Mp until he retires, is voted out or dies.
About Chris not agreeing with his proposal, well raila is entittled to his own feelings as long as the only place he can have them implemented is in his head.
Anon, for the umpteenth time, the Kisumu Molasses Plant was sold in a public auction. This was after more than 20 years of lying dormant and under receivership. The government owned it and yet it did nothing to make it productive, during which time Dr. Robert Ouko was murdered in cold blood while trying to revive it. Am glad the plant is now up and now running, albeit as a private company. The bone of contention seemed to be the land on which it is lying, that apparently was not part of the auction lot. Government does not sell land but only allocates. Besides, was one to buy the factory and be expected to operate it in the air or on the land it was built? Pr. Moi used his constitutional powers to allocate the land to the auction winner. What is corrupt about that?
ReplyDeleteTalking of corruption, can YOU tell us why Mr. John Githongo is living in exile? Or since your accusing Raila of grabbing mollasses land, please tell us how three families ended up owning a third of the total Kenyan land area? Or how the Artur brothers got Kenyan passports, Police Inspector IDs and access to JKIA VIP lounge? Or how a certain political party activist gets VIP escort on public account despite being a private citizen?
Please check the history of Bomas constitutional conference and you will find that it is the government that sabotaged the whole process. At the referendum, it is the government that eventually lost the vote, while the orange team (which Raila was part of) carried the day. Dont try and twist history.
You may not envisage a Raila presidency, but it is a reality which you will soon have to reckon with. Hate the game mate, not the player.
Lemmie tell one political truh, mr. Phil. Raila Odinga will lose the odm nomination to Kalonzo, cry foul as usual and blame Moi for the defeat. He will leave the party in a huff and embarassment and try it in the election proper with the original odm or some other fringe party. In the election proper, he will emerge third behind Kibaki and Kalonzo in that order. Print this out if u can, laminate it and use it against me in Jan 2008. The loud mouth he and his supporters show should not be construed to mean popularity, that is just his style--pomp and colour.
ReplyDeleteI respect your right to dream though, i am not about to infringe on ya rights. All i can tell u is; sweet dreams
Gi'me a break Vikii, We've heard so much about Kalonzo "opinion poll" Musyoka, and how he is the most suitable president Kenya will ever have. I havent yet seen anything special in his vision nor have I seen anything unique in his political modus operandi. Infact Kalonzo is much the same as Moi during the period leading to Mzee Kenyatta's death. We thought we had gotten an angel in 1978, but how mistaken we were. Ask your brethren Philip Mbithi - He hasnt recorvered to this day. And that is exactly Kalonzo modus operandi. Just Ask Raila and Magara in London.
ReplyDeleteYou previously indicated you are 24 yrs old. By the time you were hitting your teens Vikii - Kalonzo was already a KANU hawk in a one party state called Kenya. I dont want to dwell on what it cost to make Kenya a multi-party state, nor do I want to advise you where this war on reforms originated from. Kalonzo was right up there with them. Let him tell you what he did in his time.
I can only tell you what Raila has done in his time.
Presidency is not a beauty contest or an opinion poll affair. Poleni sana.
Kalonzo is by far the most handsome (beautiful) candidate. That is his only quality. Kenya needs a radical leader with the testicular fortitude to take us to the next level. The country needs someone who can sustain a mass movement capable of revolutionizing the minds of Kenyans (well not quite like Mao). We need a leader who can overturn the status quo (not like Amin though). We need some one who will reinstate respect for the presidency (then give all its powers to parliament). Kalonzo will need an ogres’ mask (and wear it 24/7) to deliver such expectations.
ReplyDeleteChris/Kumekucha,
ReplyDeleteThanx for what you have said. I wish i knew your second name and we could be talking business.
I had a word with a former colleague at the UON and I was told much. I dont dwell on that. lets not say anything about quality. It is not my wish to answer along lines that will make me fear meeting you in person. One day I will and we shall laugh. In one of your posts today, you told me that I am unprofessional (or rather you tried to belittle me for making a typographical error. EREONE and you even said that it should be EVERYONE. Thank you. But in the same reply, you made an error on the word thoise. Is it SIN that I made an error and you did not.
In another post, you have in your 'headline' ORDOR and again ODOR in the body. No sin or mistake there: It is Kumekucha!
The San Fransisco Times has nothing to do with brainwash. There is one journalist in New York (my former student) who visited the blog after the Jeff rumours and contacted me through email wondering why journalists from some parts of the world 'witch hunt' and that is the time I contacted a lecturer at the UON. Indeed he told me that a former lecturer at School of Journalism has tasted your broadside.
This journo had a story about a West African working as an INTERN in their newspaper from the State UNI and always had journalists from his home town writing nasty things to the editors about him.
In anycase, I am not even in San Fransisco I am lecturing in New York and I have been told you went to my old school; CHANGES, though no one knows your other name or full names.
Phil, i am not 24, i am 25. I was introduced to politics at the age of 8. If you go to my upcountry home, i will give you not less than 1000 copies of Kenneth matiba's 1992 manifestoes . I come from a family that has suffered and by this i mean both financially psychologically and even physically for opposing Daniel Moi's rule.
ReplyDeleteYou are not qualified to attempt to lecture me about Moi's misrule based on what you have read in the newspapers. We had our house searched severally at the middle of the night. The so called struggle for the second liberation is something that has always been at my fingertips from a very early age. I was privy to some very intricate details concerning opposition politics in kenya and I still am. If i suffered under Moi, then it means I suffered under Kalonzo coz he was Moi's pointman from where i come from. But the truth of the matter is that kalonzo served in Moi's government for almost a quarter of a century but i have not seen him do the stuff some people who only served in the cabinet for two years did. I am yet to see him hire goons to fight opposition politicians. He is on record urging all his colleagues to desist from confronting Ngilu. That brings me to the question....How does anybody who really fought for the sake of democracy turn round and fight the very same democracy? The answer is that he was fighting for his own self and family.
When i say i respect Wanyiri Kihoro and James Orengo, it is not based on reading the 'standard'. It is not even based on reading Wanyiri kihoro's "Never say die". It is based on conviction derived from listening to them talk for hours. Raila Odinga suffered, almost at the same rate Matiba and kihoro did. But his style is what repels me. We met him in Frankfurt International Airport (I was with Lovi and Christian Longomba---They were headed for Boston) on October 30 2006. He was accompanied by his wife and Jakoyo Midiwo. What irritated us is that he had guts to start spreading his mushene against kibaki...come on, even in Germany you are telling peopleto 'educate' the youth. Lovi told him to his face to try a change for a while.
My point is that if we want to vote for those who really fought for Kenya, then we should not even try holding elections. Matiba is sick and the other guys are political nobodies. Orengo is trying to secure at least a parliamentary seat and the same can be said about everyone else. We go for honesty at the moment.
Hey hey guys let me abrogate myself the role of referee here. Phil and Vikii keep your personal consictions to yourselves chaps and stop venting venom here. It is nothjing personal and let keep it objective hoping that I don't incur your wraths. Vikii age is a number and 24 and 25 are only separated by a digit what is the main deal bro? Phil back your horse bad don's provock bw. Vikii, he is energetic and can measure up to the chalenge you know. Great weekend guys, cool down, won't you?
ReplyDeleteNo, mr. Taabu, Phil is one of the few guys I respect for backing his desires, dreams and views with concrete facts. He is a man i admire greatly. My point was that he should never think that those of us who back kalonzo are former kanu moles. I am not and will never be a kanu sympathiser. I have only participated in one election so far. In the 1988 elections, we went through hell coz we were labelled wasaliti, In 1992 we suffered everyhing u can imagine 4 being with Matiba. In '97, we fell to the tribal trap and went for Ngilu (This is the only political regret i have.) In short, i have always been and will always be anti-establishment. This should not get anybody into thinking anti-establishment means supporting raila. No, it means much more than that.
ReplyDeleteI have no problem with phil at all. In fact if he was anywhere near me now he would be madly drunk. My point is that, yes we respect your point of view, but if i may quote Jose Mourinho...."Never ever think everyone else is stupid:.
Between myself and Vikii, This is purely an ODM affair - and, unlike NARK Kenya, we encourage internal freedom of speech in ODM. ODM is a government in waiting and prior to taking up the job, we want all Kenyans to vet our capabilities.
ReplyDeleteIt is a well known fact that Raila virtually pulled the likes of Kalonzo, Saitoti, Ntimama, Gumo, Mudavadi out of Moi's vice-like grip in Kanu. Of all these former KANU hawks, Kalonzo has suddenly seen himself as a potential President, and his supporters expect us to forget that he has some very prominent anti-reform and anti-democracy skeletons in his closet. (Chris actually has proof of Kalonzo practicing witchcraft).
And because Raila was once recorded as saying that "Kalonzo is the one with the ball", newspaper commentators immediately assumed that he would be LDPs presidential candidate. The assumption is that because Raila backed Kibaki's election, he is now a King maker waiting only to be appointed Prime Minister. That Raila has now declared interest in the presidency and in the process emerged as the strongest challenger to President Kibaki is driving shivers down the spines of land grabbers, anti-reformers and corruption cowboys. Many of these guys are frustrated that Raila has no skeleton in his closet.
By the way Vikii, Matiba is nowhere in the struggle for multi-party in Kenya. Matiba was part of KANU bandwagon up until late 1980s. Kibaki, Kalonzo, Saitoti, etc was with him during those dark days. As far as multi-party is concerned; I can mention to you names like Anyona, Jaramogi, Shikuku, Raila, Chelagat, etc, etc. Some of them might be dead now, but you can be sure they will be remembered and honoured when Raila reads his inaguration speech in January 2008. Need I say more?
We will drink that beer on your account then Vikii. Nyam Choms will be on me.