Supremacy wars make Kenyans start to feel like a roofless room

East Africa Law Society Chairman Mr James Aggrey Mwamu. East African lawyers have urged Kenyan voters to start recalling rogue MPs as Parliament’s fight with the governors and the Judiciary persists. PHOTO/FILE 

In Summary

• We copied the “new” model of governance wholesale from other countries whose structures have evolved over hundreds of years, underpinned by greater wealth than ours.
• MPs have again awarded themselves generous perks to the tune of Sh5 billion, and at the same time punished the Judiciary by slashing Sh500 million from its budget.

By Magesha Ngwiri
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There is no doubt that devolution, as a concept, is noble. The idea of taking the government to the roots is inspired, as long as people are given the opportunity to make important decisions that will affect their lives.

But what has been happening in the past month has made many start to wonder whether the outcome will have been worth all the effort and trouble.

It makes for depressing reading. Quite possibly, those who drafted the 2010 Constitution could not have envisaged all the confusion and chaos that would ensue when legislative and executive power was removed from the centre to the “grassroots”.

Certainly, they could not have foreseen a situation where the three tiers of government would go for each other’s jugular, or that supremacy wars would become the order of the day.

The result is that many people have started wondering whether they would not have been better off being ruled by one government despite its imperfections, perfidies, and depredations. But of course this is a reactionary, if not sacrilegious, thought.

Perhaps what the Constitution makers did not take into account was the frailties of human nature, the inanities brought about by overweening megalomania and voraciousness of the new rulers, traits that seem to be inevitable components of power.

A few safeguards would have been necessary to make devolution work. Unfortunately, we copied the “new” model of governance wholesale from other countries whose structures have evolved over hundreds of years, underpinned by greater wealth than ours.

We were in a hurry to break away from the centralised system of governance in which the ruling elite “ate” alone and substitute it with a system in which a new elite gorged themselves from 47 separate troughs.

We did not consider the innate nature of power which has Mammon at its very core.

The Bible said it succinctly: The love of money is the root of all evil. Do not be deceived; it is money which is at the root of all the commotion that has led to confounding wars of attrition between the National Executive, the National Assembly, the Senate, and the county executives.

USELESS JUNKETS

In short, the incessant jousting over power between the senators and governors, MPs and everyone else, is over control of money.

Unfortunately, these resources are not only limited, very few are talking about boosting productivity through sensible interventions. Instead, an overwhelming majority are only concerned about sitting allowances, bloated perks, and useless junkets abroad.

In a word, everyone is trying to milk an emaciated cow, but only a few seem to be seeking ways to feed it so it can produce more milk. This is not sustainable.

As one newspaper opined earlier in the week, devolution could be on its deathbed unless Kenyans say a thunderous NO!

The times have been interesting. The Senate has been busy scheming to emasculate governors with the support of the National Assembly. Earlier, MPs had been trying to de-ball the Senate by disbanding it altogether to make it clear they are the Upper House despite the historical misnomer.

In this, they have received support from governors who regard the senators as idlers earning for doing nothing. And then MPs have been vowing to tame the Judiciary whose members, they believe, have been dishing out court orders and injunctions too liberally.

In this, the MPs have received the tacit support of the National Executive which accuses the Judiciary of cramping its style.

To add spice to the whole mess, MPs have again awarded themselves generous perks to the tune of Sh5 billion, and at the same time punished the Judiciary by slashing Sh500 million from its budget. It is enough to make the brain reel.

The one common feature is that all these institutions seem to be intent only on dipping their fingers into my pocket and yours through taxes and levies over and above what is levied by the National Government.

Is it any wonder that the ordinary Kenyan is beginning to feel like “a room without a roof”, to paraphrase the immortal lyrics by singer Pharrell Williams?