By MACHARIA GAITHO
Posted Monday, March 19 2012 at 20:24
Posted Monday, March 19 2012 at 20:24
At least Mr Raila Odinga and Mr William Ruto can agree on one thing. That is progress.
The latest instalment of our never-ending political soap opera has now turned attention to the disputed election dates.
The hypocrisy of the Kenyan politician comes out all too clearly with the criticism of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission for fixing March 4, 2013, as the date for the next elections.
Sitting MPs may mouth-off about elections in December this year, but they are busy calculating the monetary windfall of some extra months in office.
Prime Minister Odinga says he is for December polls, but so far, we are not seeing any sustained effort from his ODM party.
Mr Ruto, the estranged ODM deputy leader and Mr Odinga’s arch-nemesis, seems to have broken ranks with Mr Uhuru Kenyatta and fellow G7 alliance troopers in hitting out at the Electoral Commission over the March 2013 date, but I suspect he is simply playing to the gallery.
Anyway, Mr Odinga and Mr Ruto are two of the most influential leaders around. Each of them claims to command a sizeable constituency and each is persuaded he has what it takes to capture the presidency.
So, if they are serious about preferring elections in December, they can go slow on the rhetoric and do something called “putting your money where your mouth is”.
Rival presidential candidate Martha Karua, who says she is for December polls, has already challenged Mr Odinga to force elections by pulling out of the coalition government.
I am not one of Ms Karua’s “learned friends”, but I still find that legal proposition rather suspect.
Anyway, we are dealing here, not so much with narrow legalisms, but with the wider spirit of a constitutional dispensation that should not countenance the immorality of leaders securing themselves illegitimate extensions to their terms of office.
Kenyans elected President Kibaki — if they actually ever did because many believe he stole the election — to a second and final five-year term at the end of December 2007. Members of the Tenth Parliament were elected on the same day to serve five years, and not a day more.
In our history since independence, five years has always been the cycle between elections, not the cycle between taking office.
Therefore, if one is elected on December 27, 2007, he or she must give way in good time to allow for the next polls on or before December 27, 2012.
The argument that five years is counted from when MPs were sworn in on January 15 the following year is arrant nonsense.
Anyway, the new Constitution changed things somewhat with the provision that the General Election will be on a fixed date, on the second week of August every five years.
A confluence of conspiracies made August this year impractical, and we were resigned to pushing the polls back to December. Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo even brought a Bill to Parliament, with the concurrence of the Cabinet, proposing the shift in election dates.
Now Mr Kilonzo, shifting positions as often as he changes designer suspenders, has joined the March 2013 bandwagon.
President Kibaki also reneged on a December 2012 pledge, making one wonder whether after a lifetime in politics, he wants to steal himself a little more time or whether he is simply hostage to forces wanting to extend their terms.
Electoral Commission boss Issack Hassan said the 2013 date was settled on because President Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga had failed to agree on dissolving the coalition government to pave the way for December elections as suggested by the Constitutional Court.
Cheer leaders for March 2013 have now devised the ingenious argument that dissolving the coalition would not trigger fresh elections as Parliament would remain in place.
That is a self-serving argument because the Constitutional Court has already provided that window of opportunity.
It is now up to the people to unite against politicians and push the case for elections before the end of this year. Let’s wait and see whether Mr Odinga and Mr Ruto will unite on the side of the people.
mgaitho@ke.nationmedia.com
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment