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POLITICS
Most people are wondering why President Moi is so determined
in his opposition to the Constitution of Kenya Review CommissionObservers are intrigued by the President’s apparent intransigence and defiance of the public mood, which has all along been for changing the Constitution. The President trashed the draft constitution and went ahead to claim that the Commission’s chairman, Prof. Yash Pal Ghai is, in fact «a foreigner.»
It is on record, that just before the team embarked on the constitution making process, some of the commissioners paid a rather suspect visit to State House, Nairobi, thus threatening to compromise the independence of the reform process. President Moi apparently had no interest in changing the supreme law of the land. He reneged on his own pledge to give Kenyans a new constitution «soon.»
Then came his about-turn, which he articulated on New Year’s Eve 1995, when he promised in his midnight Address to the Nation from State House, that he would invite lawyers of international repute to charter a new constitutional dispensation.
Although his statement sparked off a flurry of activities within the political and civic lobbies, nothing really moved, and the 1997 elections were held under the old law. A makeshift reform package named the Inter-Party Parliamentary Group (IPPG), was agreed on across the political divide, but the party in power, the Kenya African National Union (KANU), the police and the provincial administration repeatedly betrayed the spirit of the agreement.
To all intents and purposes, President Moi has always put roadblocks across the path to a new constitution. According to observers, his own role has been either that of a facilitator or a spoiler, depending on the likelihood of the process either advancing or threatening his political fortunes. Critics argue that his various and diverging statements should be treated as mere political talk. «He has not come out in clear terms to say why he is opposed to a new constitution,» Ms. Raychelle Omamo, Chairperson of the Law Society of Kenya told the Sunday Nation in an interview.
The common denominator in the arguments by the President and his close allies, including Cabinet Ministers Julius Sunkuli and William Ruto, is that the Commission’s proposals do not reflect the wishes of Kenyans. He has added a new angle to the debate, alleging the review chairman, Prof Yash Pal Ghai, is a «foreigner», despite overwhelming evidence that the law Professor was born and bred in Kenya.
Points of view
Many are puzzled by the President’s uncompromising stand.
Ms. Martha Koome of the Kenyan Chapter of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), observes that everybody had expected Moi to leave a legacy of a new political order for Kenya, but instead, the President is fighting against the public inclination towards a new constitution. KANU‘s critics now draw a parallel between the President’s unyielding stance on the reform, and the raging succession battle that is likely to climax in early January when his second and final five-year term in the multi-party era ends. The Chairman of the Non-Governmental Organizations Governing, Council Mr. Oduor Ong’wen, says that Moi does not appear ready to quit. «He needs the old constitution, which has awesome powers, to continue ruling by proxy.»
Other observers claim that the President had to move fast to scuttle the review effort, out of fear that the envisaged national constitutional conference threatened to transform itself into a national referendum, with powers to override the Constitution and Parliament. President Moi is said to have seen the possibility of a vote of «no confidence» in his government. Mr. Gichira Kibara, executive director of the Centre for Governance and Democracy, says that the fluid state of politics, made Moi uneasy at the likelihood of the conference turning itself into a constitutional assembly. «It is people-driven, hence it has just the mandate just to do that.»
Enter Uhuru Kenyatta
For years, KANU has smothered dissent through ethnic polarization of politics and the age-old divide-and-rule tactics. The President has found himself in a precarious situation, where he has to reward loyalty and patronage through dishing out key seats in the government. However, this time, so high are the stakes, that he will need more than political rhetoric and intrigue to placate loyal communities.
Some observers say that KANU‘s presidential candidate, Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta, would find it difficult to tackle the opposition under a new constitutional dispensation. Should he win the elections, he will need sweeping powers over his rivals. It is such powers that the draft constitution sought to scuttle. Indeed, some observers are convinced that the new constitution will usher in new institutions and a new culture that will question past misrule.
- James Pod, Kenya, November 2002 — © Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgment