Scrap constituencies and empower local authorities

THIS COUNTRY IS THREATEN-ed. And it is not because we have an unbearable Constitution or electoral boundaries. It is rather because we are tribes or micro-nations whose political and economic needs and interests are not being protected by the current Constitution and electoral boundaries.

Our leaders govern the country by mutilating and manipulating the constitution and electoral boundaries as well as playing divisive tribal politics. Indeed, those who negotiated the Independence Constitution in London had hardly unpacked their suitcases before they started mutilating it.

Those who followed them perfected that culture and turned this country into a single party entity, eventually leading us into ethnic cleansing to influence the outcome of elections. But every so often, we go through a ritual to collect and collate views from citizens even though we know that eventually, the constitution and boundaries will have to be agreed on by politicians.

THAT IS WHY, TO KENYANS, THE CO-nstitution has never been a sacred document. If certain politicians do not get the constitution or the electoral boundaries they want, they advise their ethnic communities to reject them. That is the genesis of the gross violation of human rights, inequities and injustices.

Some countries have created constitutions and electoral boundaries that have been protected from the greed and selfishness of politicians of the day. In such countries there is a strong culture of respect for the rule of law, for institutions of governance, and for justice for all.

Thus, the documents being crafted will not be the problem. The problem is political leadership. Selfless, committed and visionary leaders, should only be improving on the independence constitution. Instead, the constitution and electoral boundaries have been treated as a means to power and privilege. Therefore, they are constantly rewritten.

Since independence, none of the mutilations and manipulations of the constitution and electoral boundaries have been a bridge to national cohesion, integrity and equitable distribution of resources. None has established a free and democratic system of government or guaranteed good governance, constitutionalism, the rule of law and human rights.

Instead, what Kenyans have experienced is just the opposite — bad governance, divisive, ethnic-based politics, tribal clashes, massacres, gross violations of human rights, gender violence, dehumanising poverty, high-level corruption, economic stagnation and impunity.

As we continue to search, there are several options the country can follow. We should do away with constituencies for MPs and the President and instead develop strong devolved governments. The three arms of government should have the Republic of Kenya as their constituency. It is important to empower these arms of government by clearly defining their roles to ensure they do not interfere with the other organs of governance.

The role of the National Assembly is to legislate, articulate national issues at policy level, pass the budget, and through its committees, play the role of a watchdog to ensure all budgetary allocations are used accountably. Therefore, it is inappropriate for an MP to be the person to, for example, allocate constituency funds in Parliament, implement projects at the constituency level, and approve the audit.

MPs should compete along political party lines. The party with the highest number should form the government and provide a Prime Minister. This will make every vote count, and parties will work hard to ensure they get as many votes as possible from every part of the country.

Parties will be supported on the basis of their agendas, not tribal affiliation. Every vote will be important to the party rather than to an individual MP. With new developments, including electronic voting, this would eliminate the need to transport voters, and voting should be possible from any polling station.

PARLIAMENT HAS ALREADY APPRO-ved that constituency boundaries serve as administrative boundaries (districts) and be centres of local authorities for the devolved government. What is important here is to empower these local authorities, community leaders and interest groups by clearly defining their roles and protecting them from interference.

Kenyans have clearly said they want to elect their president. He or she should be sponsored by a political party, and his or her constituency should be only Kenya. We do not need constituencies for MPs. Instead, it is the local authorities that need empowering, while the MPs take care of national issues. This will promote national cohesion, detribalise politics, put to an end divisive, tribal politics, clashes, gerrymandering and unhealthy changes in the constitution.

This is a slightly abridged version of a paper presented to the Interim Independent Boundaries Review Commission a week ago by Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai.