MPs team hopeful of reform deal

• Parliamentary committee says Naivasha retreat could save draft

The Parliamentary Select Committee heads to Naivasha on Sunday for a retreat confident that it will strike a deal on the contentious issues that could mar the writing of a new constitution.

Vice chairman Ababu Namwamba said there was ‘real determination’ amongst the 27 member committee that ‘they will get things right’.

ODM and PNU are sharply divided on how the country should be governed.

While ODM wants a parliamentary system, with the Prime Minister wielding executive power as proposed in the draft put forward by the committee of experts, PNU wants executive power retained by the President.

On Friday, Mr Namwamba asked the PSC members to attend the retreat with an ‘open mind’, saying the future of the country lay in their hands.

“This constitution is not for an individual or political parties. We must remember that it is for all Kenyans,” he told journalists in Nairobi.

“Therefore, as we head to Naivasha with all the optimism that white smoke will billow at the end of it all, we must keep an open mind,” he added.

On Thursday, President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga failed to agree on contentious issues in the draft constitution after a four hour meeting of the grand coalition management committee.

The meeting had been called to seek consensus on the sticky issues before the draft law goes to a referendum.

They consequently shifted their search for a compromise at the Naivasha retreat.

The Budalangi MP said while divergent views on the draft were welcome, hard-line positions should be dropped for the sake of the country.

“What is happening in the country is not strange. Kenyan should realise that making a constitution is not a wedding ceremony. It has a lot of push and pull. It happened in the US and South Africa,” he said.

On Wednesday, the two parties differed on the revised draft, with each blaming the other for the stalemate. PNU has maintained it will push for an executive system that has a single centre of power.

It has indicated it will only accept a PM if the country adopts Tanzania’s model of government, where the President is the Head of State and Government and appoints a Prime Minister who is leader of government in Parliament.

PNU also want the new law enacted only after the 2012 elections saying that changes needed for conduct and management of elections can be done through amendments to the current Constitution.

PNU is particularly against a transition clause indicating that the proposed constitutional and supreme courts should be established one year after the enactment of the constitution.

They also oppose a new provision extending the term of the Interim Independent Electoral Commission.

On Devolution, ODM says power and resources must be devolved and dispersed to ensure that the government is closer, responsive and accountable to the people.

The party said devolution should be in tiers — national, regional and county levels — to achieve equity for all in development.

Laikipia West MP Nderitu Muriithi yesterday accused Committee of Experts on Constitutional Reforms of short-changing Kenyans by inserting a clause that gives parliament powers to elect the country’s executive.

Mr Muriithi said Kenyans did not allow the CoE to usurp their role of choosing their chief executive.

The people were shocked to learn that the draft had another clause saying Kenyans wanted a hybrid system where the President and the Prime Minister share power.

Additional reporting by James Kariuki