Eight reasons why Kenyans voted for new law

Ten new things

-A bicameral Parliament, consisting of the National Assembly and Senate will be established
-47 county governments to be established countrywide to manage local affairs
-Salaries and Remuneration Commission to determine salaries of all public servants
-15 per cent of national revenue to go directly to all counties
-Regular Police and Administration Police to report to Inspector General
-Ministers to be appointed from outside Parliament, any MP named to Cabinet resigns parliamentary seat
-Kenyans allowed to hold citizenships of another country — dual citizenship
-Kenyans guaranteed adequate food, housing, health care, education and social services
-Supreme Court established to hear Presidential petitions and review Court of Appeal rulings
-Women to get one third of all leadership positions at national and county levels and in civil service.

Kenyans voted for the new constitution for eight main reasons.

The reasons, political analysts say, were that people were tired of the old constitution; did not trust the leaders of the ‘No’ team, and the new set of laws was backed by two political heavyweights.

The ‘No’ team could also have lost because of parading the faces of the Kanu regime, which is associated with misrule, corruption and impunity.

Others say behind the push for the new law lurked the memories of the 2008 post-election violence and the fear that the clashes could recur if a fresh set of law was not passed to redress historical injustices believed to have sparked the violence.

This emerged on Thursday as Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi declared a victory for the ‘Yes’ team.

“Constitution-making has been at the core of our politics for over 20 years. People have become tired,” said Mr Frank Matanga, a professor of political science at the Masinde Muliro University in Kakamega.

Prof Matanga said the poor, who are the majority, also saw the new constitution as a bridge to opportunities that would give them better lives.

“Everywhere I have been, I have seen celebrations. Unless it proves to be a mirage, it is a definite promise of change for the have-nots,” he said by telephone from Kakamega.

Political scientist Tom Wolf attributed the ‘Yes’ victory to the support of President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the main actors in the 2007 presidential election.

It was the violence that followed the General Election that pushed the two to campaign for better governance and a new constitution.

“The crisis itself made people realise it is not a question of the so-called civil society loudmouths (who were agitating for a new constitution) but about governance,” Dr Wolf said.

He said the two-week meeting of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) in Naivasha earlier this year was the turning point in the review process.

“The issues identified as contentious by the Committee of Experts and which by and large had derailed the 2005 process were resolved there,” said PSC chairman Mohamed Abdikadir.