Gema meeting was within constitutional territory

By Anthony Kamunya

The meeting of the Gema communities' leadership in Limuru, cutting across the religious, political economic and socialstratum has, as was widely expected, generated a frenzied debate. Article 36(1) of the Constitution reads as: Every person has the right to freedom of association, which includes the right to form, join or participate in the activities of an association of any kind. And it must be read with article 44(2).

Kenyans, while giving their views on the new Constitution made it clear that the Bill of Rights would not have been sound or complete if preservation of cultural identity and expression was not fortified.

A sense of cultural identity and expression stems from history. Individuals and groups of people with a common cultural and linguistic heritage will naturally coagulate towards one another. If such communities were to be lumped together by dint of geographical location, they soon discover that they are tied to common challenges and fortunes.

In retrospect, this evolving process begins with the family unit (whose protection is guaranteed in the new Constitution), the community, different communities and ultimately the nation. A community of nations will make a continent and ultimately the global perspective.

To oppose this basic reality is to live in denial and self-negation. It is not bad for a group or community to come together to fashion a common approach in tackling common challenges or in mobilising resources or skills from the wider pool in their perpetuation.

Political expectations

In fact to have common problems and challenges is not design or default but a stubborn state of things. The devolved system of government lends credence to this proposition. A lot of attention has now been shifted to the county governments. Leaders and communities in counties around the country are coming together to strategise on facing their common challenges while rallying resources in their background for the benefit of all.

Mapping out a political path which such communities will track is going to be the central theme in realisation of their economic, social, religious and political expectations. Nobody and nothing should stand in their way. Not only is it their enshrined constitutional right, it is the only rational thing to do.

Solutions to local problems will be worked out by leaders and their communities and not outsiders.

As they say, all politics is local.

The new Constitution has set the stage for vivacious social-economic competition. According to the new commission for revenue allocation formula, counties that generate more revenue will of course have more at their disposal to pay their bills and foster development.

This will inevitably lead to stiff inter-ethnic rivalry (in a positive sense) and where several counties are forced to co-operate in the resulting interdependency, bigger groups of communities may find themselves coming together to address regional interests and design their roadmaps to achieving prosperity. In this dimension, the Constitution has laid the foundation from where a "community of interests wills be generated."

Gema seems to have been regenerated by this emerging constitutional character. Whereas Gema may have been blamed for being an imposing juggernaut centered on wielding political power in exclusion in the past, the Limuru meeting should not be seen in this light.

While ramifications of the meeting will also be a matter of time, it can be argued that Gema as a community of interests has taken a giant leap in the right direction.

It cannot be denied however that the meeting came with its fair share of side shows. Outbursts competed for space with talk of substance. This is the beauty of the new Constitution: it guarantees freedoms and rights in a very liberal sense.

We may not agree with some of the views expressed in that meeting, but in upholding the Constitution, we must ferociously defend the rights of the people who made them to do it. That describes a forbearing and progressive society.

50-plus-one

When Gema is easily dismissed as a political outfit out to consolidate power by perpetuating exclusionary politics, again a constitutional lesson seems to be lost in the din.

The new Constitution has pegged the vote’s requirement for a presidential win at 50-plus-one.

With such a high threshold, the community is aware of the need to work with Kenyans across the continuum in order to make a case for a Kenyans’ political agenda as anticipated by the new Constitution.

It is not plausible that the community was on a suicide mission politically speaking. It is important to appreciate one basic fact: Kenya is a product of many communities. These represent diversity which we must acknowledge and strive to exploit for the benefit of the nation.

　

The writer is a lawyer.marenyag@yahoo.com