Whoever sent Mr. Francis Muthaura, Head of the Civil Service, to a Press conference to open his big mouth about the ”Government power structure” expected in the Peace agreement between Prime Minister designate Raila Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki must have gaffed. Either, Muthaura was sent to test the waters or PNU could be up to some mischief.
First, Muthaura has no legal mandate whatsoever to give official views or recommendations on the Agreement document. He was not even close to the mediation table. What the Nation is awaiting for now is for the matter to be handled through Parliament and no one individual can dictate single-handedly about the expected responsibilities that will be conferred upon the Prime Minister. What is known and what was agreed upon on paper is that the PM will have Executive powers.
It was agreed that the PM will come from the Party with majority seats in Parliament so there is no way the President can appoint the Prime Minister unless Hon Muthaura had just come from a spree when he made the announcement.
There has been a wave of condemnations across Kenya of Muthaura’s careless talk and just in case he was sent by Martha Karua or Amos Kimunya to test the waters, whoever sent him should have gotten the message by now – that Kenyans will not accept to be dragged backwards.
If, on the other hand, PNU is plotting some mischief, then the Party should remember two things. One, the distribution of PM’s powers will be debated by MPs in Parliament who will have to vote in order to pass any recommendations. PNU does not command majority votes in Parliament and this was evidenced the other day when ODM took control of both the Speaker’s and Vice speaker’s posts. PNU should have learnt its lessons then to understand that they are unlikely to win any vote in Parliament in the near future unless they collaborate with ODM, the majority Party in the House.
Secondly, if PNU has hatched a secret plan to water down PM’s powers, the conspirators should remember that in case they work out miracles and get their way (and this is a big IF), they might be faced with another election because the issue now is to ensure that ODM is not rubbed on the wrong side.
The Agreement states that if any Party pulls out of the Coalition, Kenyans will have to go back to the ballot box and every conscious Kenyan knows what will happen – PNU will be sent packing. Officially, the Coalition has a life span of two years so PNU members should take their cue because ODM could embed the Agreement on the Constitution, restructure the Electoral Commission then pull out to clean up the remnants of PNU in the Coalition government in a new election.
The Muthaura outburst should be easy to deal with and I think Kenyans should ignore what he said. It’s good to know that ODM and pro-peace Kenyans are not asleep. In any case, there is the Nyundo called “Mass action” and the last time I checked, it was ODM which had the keys to the dungeon where this awful Nyundo is currently housed.
The impact of this weapon was last time dubbed “Post election violence”. This time, it might be baptized “Post Agreement Chaos” and who the hell wants a “re-run” of what Kenyans witnessed? There is only one Koffi Annan and he might not return this time to show Kenyans how to democratize their country part two! Let us keep the peace!
Okoth Osewe
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