President Mwai Kibaki displays the new Constitution when it was
promulgated in 2010. Seven years later, Mr Kassait Kamket, the
little-known Kanu MP from Baringo County’s Tiaty constituency, has
drafted a Bill that seeks to change the power structure from
presidential to parliamentary. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Exactly seven-and-a-half years after the Constitution was
promulgated, a former journalist-turned-politician yesterday became the
first to test the will of Members of Parliament to alter the supreme law
of the land.
The unresolved issue on
the political arena, and which was the bone of contention during the
pre-2010 Bomas of Kenya talks, is whether the country should adopt a
parliamentary or presidential system of governance, or a fusion of both.
When
it was promulgated on August 27, 2010, the feeling then was that some
aspects of the Constitution would be changed later, and President Mwai
Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga promised to do just that.
DRAFT BILL
Seven
years later, Mr Kassait Kamket, the little-known Kanu MP from Baringo
County’s Tiaty constituency, has drafted a Bill that seeks to change the
power structure from presidential to parliamentary.
“This is a looking-forward legislative proposal,” he defended it yesterday.
“Being
a first-term MP, I come with clean hands, and I pray that Kenyans read
the Bill and debate the proposals without rancour, emotions and any
preconceived malice on my part.”
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Wednesday,
the Budget and Appropriations Committee of the National Assembly will
scrutinise the financial implication of Mr Kamket’s Constitution of
Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2017, which is the most elaborate and radical
attempt to amend the 2010 Constitution yet.
The
Public Finance Management Act gives the committee the power to
scrutinise all Bills with financial implications for their
sustainability.
In the event the
committee approves it, the Bill could be introduced in the House as
early as Thursday this week, said Mr Kamket.
There
has been a quiet but lingering debate on which system of government
Kenya should adopt, and that discussion has gained momentum in recent
months after the recent political divisions created by the long
presidential campaigns between Raila Odinga’s National Super Alliance
and Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party, which eventually saw Mr Odinga
boycott a repeat election.
Mr Kamket is therefore reviving debate on a controversial subject that marked the clamour for a new constitution in 2010.
BOMAS TALKS
During
the lengthy Bomas talks, it had initially been agreed that Kenya should
adopt a bicameral Legislature and a dual-Executive system, with a Prime
Minister as head of government and President as head of state.
Shortly
after this was concluded, the then Attorney-General Amos Wako made
alterations to it by re-introducing a presidential system and removing
the clause on Senate. The draft was rejected during the November 2005
referendum by 58 per cent of the voters.
After
the Wako draft was defeated, the Committee of Experts led by Dr Nzamba
Kitonga proposed a hybrid system, but this, too, faced problems with
politicians, who wanted to overhaul the imperial presidency.
While
Mr Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) had all along favoured a
parliamentary system, they surprised everyone during the final Naivasha
retreat of Parliamentary Select Committee in January 2010 when they
abandoned it in favour of a pure presidential system, which mimicked the
US political system.
PURE PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM
The
pure presidential system was initially supported by Kibaki’s Party of
National Unity (PNU), and during the Naivasha talks, where PNU was led
by Uhuru Kenyatta, they had agreed to have the position of a Prime
Minister, albeit with limited powers.
But
the ODM parliamentary wing team, under James Orengo, abandoned their
push for a parliamentary system, a move that caught PNU by surprise.
With
the recent shifts in politics, debate is simmering on whether Kenya
should look again at the system of governance, and Mr Kamket’s Bill
appears to be a long-shot contribution.
In
the proposed system, the Office of the President will be given
ceremonial duties and will lead to the creation of the positon of an
executive Prime Minister who will be the head of government and leader
of government business in the National Assembly.
The
proposal to demote the office of the President to ceremonial duties is
likely to trigger furious national debate, and eyes will be on President
Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party, which enjoys a majority stake in Parliament
to pass it.
EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY
The
PM will exercise the executive authority of the state with the
assistance of two deputies. The PM will be appointed by the President
within seven days of the first sitting of the National Assembly after an
election.
The other proposed duties
of the PM will be to chair Cabinet meetings, direct and coordinate the
functions of ministries and government departments, and assign
responsibility for the implementation and administration of any Act of
Parliament to deputy PMs.
Mr Kamket
is proposing that the PM be an elected member of the National Assembly
with the additional role of leader of government business, and also
seeks the scrapping of the Office of Deputy President.
AGE FOR PRESIDENT
For one to be elected President, one will have to be aged 50 and above.
The president will serve a single term of seven years and will be elected by a joint sitting of Parliament.
The
Bill also seeks to change the date of the general election from the
second Tuesday of August to the second Tuesday of December of the fifth
year.
Another radical proposal is to
restructure the senate from its current format. Every county, Mr Kamket
proposes, will have two senators, a man and woman, but they will be
elected by the County Assembly.
Six other nominated senators will be nominated to represent the youth and persons living with disabilities.
— Ibrahim Oruko reported from Parliament.
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