Raila: Jubilee creating one party state

Cord leader Raila Odinga on Sunday said he believed Jubilee’s real intention is to abolish opposition parties and re-establish a one-party state.

He also claimed that the government might seek to outlaw devolution and centralise power in an effort to bring back the old constitution through the back door.

In a statement to the Nation, Mr Odinga said Cord will this week move to court to block the controversial Security Laws (Amendment) Act, 2014, as a warning to the government not to pass laws that “will return Kenya to a one-party state”.

If Cord makes good its threat and goes to court, the law will be suspended until the case is heard.

However, National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale dismissed Cord leaders’ decision to challenge the law in court, saying they were pursuing a political agenda and had no interest in safeguarding the country from terrorist attacks.

“The war against terrorism is too critical to be overshadowed by political interests,” he told Nation at Parliament buildings in Nairobi on Sunday.

Two other controversial laws — the Kenya Information and Communication (Amendment) Act and the Media Council Act 2013 — which President Uhuru Kenyatta signed into law last December are yet to be implemented because of legal challenges.

ONE-PARTY STATE

On Sunday, Mr Odinga said: “Next they will target weakening or killing of opposition political parties. Kenyans must not think that it is beyond Jubilee to contemplate abolishing opposition politics and creating a one-party state. That is the only system Jubilee leadership understands, it is the only system they are comfortable with.

“Kenyans must see the bigger picture which is that Jubilee is determined to undo the Constitution and bring back the old constitution through the back door. The path to dictatorship in Kenya has always began with administrations seeking and giving themselves powers that the constitution denied them,” he said.

“Nobody must be cheated that the new law is about security and that we have seen the last of the amendments. Next will be fundamental weakening or even abolishment of the regional system (devolution) and re-centralisation of power. Jubilee has spent the last two years creating trouble for governors and causing chaos in counties by sponsoring impeachments and blackmailing of governors. The recent amendments are just another phase to dismantle the system created by the Constitution,” he added.

Mr Duale, the Garissa Town MP, maintained that contrary to what the opposition leaders wanted Kenyans to believe, the security laws had no unconstitutional clauses and they were subjected to public participation.

NULL AND VOID

He explained that the period set for deliberating on the laws was reduced to one day from 14 days by a House resolution because of the urgency in considering the matter.

On Sunday, Mr Odinga and Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula separately said that a legal team assembled by the opposition would seek to have the set of amendments passed by MPs declared null and void.

Mr Odinga, through his spokesman Dennis Onyango, said he would meet the Cord legal team for a briefing on Monday morning before moving to court to quash the controversial law.

“The former PM had gone to the village for Christmas holiday. But he is returning to Nairobi in the morning for a brief on the case before joining the legal team and other Cord leaders in filing the case,” Mr Onyango said.

The legal team, Nation learnt, was being assembled by Siaya Senator James Orengo. Cord co-principal Kalonzo Musyoka praised the coalition parliamentary team for their spirited effort to defeat the controversial security laws.

PUNITIVE SECURITY

The Wiper leader, who spoke during a church harambee in Masinga and later in Matungulu on Sunday, said Kenya does not need a punitive security law but ways of dealing with corruption in the security system, which gives terrorists easy access to the country.

“We cannot have laws which are driven by desires to act against the interests of the citizens of this country,” Mr Musyoka said

Mr Wetang’ula separately confirmed that the Cord case challenging the legality of the law would be filed in Court on Monday.

“They are not getting away with it. We will be in court on Monday to throw that draconian piece of legislation out,” he said.

The opposition has accused Speaker Justin Muturi and his deputy Joyce Laboso of failing to lead debate in the House in a neutral way.

They claimed the two have become extensions of the Executive and were whipping the House to sing and dance to the tunes of the presidency.

“This law is meant to serve ulterior motives as opposed to fighting terrorism. Security matters touch on counties yet the National Assembly did not bother to refer the Bill to the Senate as we had requested,” Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale told the Nation on Sunday.