Politics
National security deal struck at review talks
Lands minister James Orengo (left) and Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta take their debate on the proposed constitution to a coffee break during a meeting of the Parliamentary Select Committee in Naivasha on Tuesday. The team agreed that the central government would be responsible for security. Photo/HEZRON NJOROGE
Posted Tuesday, January 26 2010 at 22:00
In Summary
- Intelligence, army, AP and police take centre stage as negotiations enter home stretch
Members of Parliament negotiating a new constitution Tuesday agreed to keep national security as a function of the central government, unofficial sources said.
They also decided to keep the regular and Administration Police as separate forces, but reporting to one boss, the Inspector General.
Under that arrangement, each of the two arms will be headed by a commandant.
The 26-member Parliamentary Select Committee on the constitution is debating and seeking consensus on the draft constitution ahead of a referendum to be held later in the year.
The team is expected to reach an agreement to prevent a fall-out similar to the one experienced ahead of the 2005 referendum when political leaders were divided over whether to support or reject the Wako Draft.
The divisions led to the polarisation of the citizens along party and ethnic lines.
On Tuesday, the committee tackled, among others, the chapter on national security and was expected to conclude debate on the Executive, devolution, representation and public finance by the end of day.
In accordance with parliamentary rules, MPs are not allowed to reveal what was discussed and no media briefings were provided.
Currently, the police force is headed by the Commissioner of Police while the AP is headed by a Commandant reporting directly to the Provincial Administration and Internal Security permanent secretary.
“We unanimously agreed to recognise the AP as a separate force at par with the Kenya police service,” an MP at the meeting said.
Under the proposed constitution, the commandants of the two forces will fall under the Inspector-General but will function independently administratively.
A proposal to form a civilian Internal Security Board to coordinate the two forces was mooted but not conclusively discussed.
In the draft constitution prepared by the Committee of Experts, headed by former LSK chairman Nzamba Kitonga, national security organs are recognised as the Kenya Defence Forces, the National Security Intelligence Service and the Kenya Police Services.
The experts did not put the Administration Police in the draft, only indicating: “Parliament may establish such other police services as it may consider necessary.”
The move was interpreted to mean that the AP would be disbanded once the new constitution was enacted.
-
Submitted by umoyaplanPosted January 28, 2010 10:12 AM
-
Submitted by okamala
I am yet to understand the exact duties and responsibilities of APs and how different it is from the regular police. I'd also wish the forces be moved to the AGs office, as that is where it belongs in a democratic governance
Posted January 28, 2010 09:23 AM -
Submitted by dm20022003
The issue of regions or counties may be a recipe for trouble.if a region may think its stable economically and everything. it may sought to be autonomous from other regions(state) eg Chechnya in russia,niger delta in nigeria.
Posted January 28, 2010 02:45 AM -
Submitted by krugutt
Given that MPs will be involved in the writing of the new constitution, it will be extremely difficult for them to write a constitution that will not favor them. To make things more friendly to them and to increase the chances of delivering a new constitution, it will be attractive to say that Ministers should be MPs and if selected to serve in the cabinet, then they must resign their parliamentary seats. Further, if there is no major departure from the current constitution, then there-is-no-need-to-waste-public-resources-any-further-but-just-introduce-pertinent-changes-that-have-cut-across-the-constitutional-making-process-in-form-of-amendments-to-the-current-constitution. Take-for-example,-the-current-counties/districts-were-designed-using-ethnic-demographics-and-the-county-governments-will-be-ethnically-based-and-will-not-promote-nationalism-among-all-ethnic-groups-of-Kenya. The-counties/districts-are-not-viable-economically. The-major-problem-has-always-been-an-imperial-presidency-punctuated-by-nepotism,-hero-worshipping,-and-build-up-of-cronism-and-disappointing-faces-of-president’s-surrogates-that-have-more-often-than-no-misused-and-abused-public-institutions.
Posted January 28, 2010 01:48 AM -
Submitted by Thabari
In fact the PSC, comprised of only 26 MPs, has just proved that we don't need that many reps. There is no higher duty than constitution making, and they seem to be doing a superb job! A smaller National Assembly with an even smaller Senate are enough: both check each other, and combined counter check the Executive and the Judiciary. There is a difference between being powerful and being big: each branch needs to be powerful but limited.
Posted January 27, 2010 07:45 PM
RSS
We would like to suggest that the Review Team considers introducing Metro Police Services to complement the National and Administration Police. Metro Plice will be formed out of the local authority inspectorate askaris and be administerd by the relevant local authorities. A study of the South African model can help inform the process. Mwacharo L.G