Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka addressing delegates at Bomas of Kenya in
Nairobi on April 23, 2015 during the launch of the Okoa Kenya Bill.
PHOTO | EVANS HABIL |
NATION MEDIA GROUP
Two weeks ago, the Okoa Kenya fraternity met at the Bomas of
Kenya to launch the Bill being proposes the amendment of the
Constitution.
Being that this process is about the
people, the Committee of Experts, in deciding the issues that needed to
be addressed, considered those matters that were affecting the public
most.
The committee found that Kenyans were most concerned with the gapping inequalities and grievous inequities in their society.
So
egregious are these inequalities and inequities that Kenya is
commiserated internationally as one of the most unequal countries in the
world.
The committee then considered those areas where
these improprieties were most likely to be calamitous and where the
government, considering its current composition, would have such a
conflict of interest in proposing reform that the public could not
expect an honest and altruistic solution to their problems.
These areas, in the conclusion of the committee, are devolution, land, ethnicity and elections.
Devolution
serves many purposes, the most taunted being the need to take resources
to the grassroots. But devolution also serves to create equality in the
allocation of resources.
The disparities in Kenya
between one county and another are outrageous with the result that the
life expectancy in one county is double that of another county.
MUST BE INCREASED
At
Okoa Kenya, we think this is a life and death matter, quite literally.
And we propose that the allocation of functions and funds to county
governments must be increased to 45 per cent if the benefits of
devolution are to be realised.
And considering further
that even within counties people can still be marginalised, we have
proposed that Ward Development Funds be created so that every Kenyan
gets to have their most parochial concerns attended to.
Within
this consideration has also come the issue of the Constituency
Development Fund. Listening to many persons express their views on this
fund, it turns out that despite the sometimes lack of proper
accountability and excesses of CDF committees and the members of
National Assembly at the counties.
As the national
government has promised parliamentarians that it shall co-operate in the
regularisation of the fund, we have proposed it as a method of
devolving national government functions and funds as will be negotiated
between the two institutions.
In regard to land, the
Constitution was written to enable the needed land reform but the turf
wars between the national government and the National Land Commission
has frustrated this objective.
So we have proposed to
make it clear that Kenyans have never trusted government with their land
and they still do not. The National Land Commission is the sole
authority in the administration of land. The government’s role in only
in the formulation of land policies.
The next
inequality and inequity regards ethnicity in public appointments. The
Constitution has restated severally that fair competition and merit
should be the basis of appointments and promotions.
But the Constitution has also recognised the need to have equity between ethnic communities.
Unfortunately, it is clear that the inequities in public service appointment will not be cured by goodwill.
The
Committee has thought it is fair to put a maximum percentage for all
and has settled on 15 per cent based on current realities and the
projections into the future.
These percentages are
applicable not just overall, but also to every department of State
organs, and national government agencies and departments. For the
avoidance of doubt, these provisions are not and cannot be imposed on
county governments.
The provisions are applicable at
all levels of employment, meaning an ethnic community cannot have its 15
percent at the highest echelons while condemning others to lower
cadres.
The provisions are also applicable to private
companies that are contracted by the national government because public
money must serve public policy.
The last area of
impropriety is elections. There are four main areas of concern. The
first is the composition of IEBC. We have over the years deluded
ourselves that there exists a Kenyan who does not have a political
affiliation and that we should entrust our elections on that Kenyan.
We at Okoa Kenya think we should just drop the charade and recognise that we all have “sides” and it’s not a bad thing.
FAIREST WAY
We
propose that political parties nominate commissioners whose
affiliations are well known and leave them to agree on the fairest way
to conduct elections.
The second area of concern is on
registration of voters. As a committee we were concerned about the
obvious disparities of registration of voters between different areas of
Kenya.
We have proposed that IDs be issued to every Kenyan within 60 days of application. If there is delay, it must be explained.
It
is also proposed that there be a registration kit at every polling
station and that IEBC must ensure that at least 80 per cent of the
eligible voting population is registered to vote.
The
last two concerns are about voting and tallying. Firstly, all voters
have biometrics. So there shouldn’t exist other separate registers on
the fraudulent excuse that there are voters with no biometrics.
Secondly,
after voters are registered using their biometrics, there is no reason
why they should vote without being identified in the same way.
Then
there is the issue of tallying of votes. After votes are counted and
certified by the presiding officer, there seems to be very little regard
to that count thereafter.
Those results are tallied at the constituency, the county and again in Nairobi. In many instances, these results are changed.
The
Bill seeks to preserve the integrity of the polling station results and
to make them conclusive and unalterable. If they have to be changed,
let it be after a judicial process.
Mwangi is an advocate of the High C
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