In the book, “Raila Odinga’s Stolen Presidency”, I put forward several short perspectives on “The Future of Kenya” during the life of the Coalition government that was hastily cobbled because of political expediency. The following is an excerpt on the Constitution with the title “A New Constitution will be Delivered”.
A New Constitution will be Delivered
This is the easy part. NARC fell out with ODM because of its failure to deliver a new Constitution. ODM was set up because of the Referendum on a new Constitution and ODM won because they convinced Kenyans that the Bomas Draft of the Constitution was the “Constitution in waiting” that would deliver the Kenyan people from whatever they are suffering from. The reason why NARC and other members of the Mount Kenya Mafia frustrated the delivery of a new Constitution was because they were afraid of the creation of post of an Executive Prime Minister, which has already been created under the National Accord. Under the circumstances, there is nothing more to fear in delivering a new Constitution, which will be a plus to the coalition government. In fact, the delivery of a new Constitution is one of the leading election promises the Coalition is in a position to deliver at any time because a draft is already in existence.
Secondly, Kibaki’s kitchen Cabinet feared that once the post of Prime Minister was created, it would be given to Raila Odinga, a politician whom, they believed, was unpredictable and could try to manoeuvre them out of power once he became Prime Minister. Raila is currently in place as Prime Minister so what is there for the Mount Kenya Mafia members still in the coalition to fear about the delivery of a new Constitution? The answer is nothing. Lastly, the Kiraitus were afraid that once the Bomas draft of the Constitution is delivered with the post of Prime Minister, which was slated for Raila Odinga, there would be “two centres of power.” All of these have already happened and, most likely, the Grand Coalition government will deliver a new Constitution to the Kenyan people, possibly before the end of 2009.
The critical and more pertinent issue with the delivery of a new Constitution is that it is a piece of paper that will not put food on the table, create jobs or led to construction of houses for the homeless. Rather, a new Constitution will advance the struggle for democracy but the document alone will not be able to transform Kenya. In any case, the capitalist ruling class the world over has a notorious habit of violating the Constitution once their interests are at stake. For example, the colonial Constitution guarantees freedom of assembly but after the PNU rigged election through ECK and free assemblies threatened their very existence, they sent police to kill people.
Recently, when Bunge La Mwananchi organized peaceful demonstrations in Nairobi to protest against rising food prices, riot police were called to clobber them despite the fact that the Constitution guarantees freedom of assembly. This happened after Raila Odinga became Prime Minister and after the coalition had already formed the government so even though it will be delivered, the Constitution remains a piece of paper that must not hoodwink Kenyans into thinking that it is a solution to the social, economic and political crisis facing the country.
Raila Odinga’s Stolen Presidency: Consequences and the Future of Kenya (p421)
About the Author
