Country needs one system of popular mandate

The Harmonised Draft Constitution proposes a mongrel system of government that pretends to be presidential but is more of parliamentary. In launching the draft, Nzamba Kitonga, the chairman of the Committee of Experts, in jest disabused fears that the presidency was maridadi and not substantive! But in truth, our next President will be a ceremonial office holder with a prestigious address and nothing else.

Chapter 12 of the draft obligates that the President shall be he who is elected by universal suffrage and attains more than 50 per cent of the cast votes with at least 25 per cent in five of the eight regions. The President is then said to be the Head of State, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Chairman of The National Security Council.

In addition, he appoints the Prime Minister, Cabinet ministers, Judges, Ambassadors et al. These powers look impressive and one may think we have an imperial presidency, but it is all illusory. After campaigning throughout the country selling his policies, programmes, agenda and at times false expectations, the President surrenders his power to a usurper.

The Prime Minister is the leader of the largest parliamentary party and the President has no option but appoint him. The Prime Minister is the Head of Government and presides over the Cabinet. In Kenya, like any other commonwealth country, Cabinet generates government bills and policies.

In short, the President under the draft becomes a stooge of the Prime Minister, Cabinet and Parliament. The President will exercise his executive authority only in concert with the Cabinet. And Parliament will vet and approve or reject all presidential appointments and decrees. What a useless office!

There is nothing wrong about having powers shared by a President and Prime Minister, but power must be commensurate with how either is elected to office. Our current coalition government is a temporary expediency arising out of political madness and can’t be replicated. No civilised country makes one go round the country campaigning and getting majority votes, then get a ceremonial office.

A parliamentary system devolves executive power to Parliament as the party or coalition of parties that is majority forms the Government comprising of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. The separation lines between the legislature and the executive are blurred. Governments last only as long as they have a majority. Defections, arm-twisting and plain bribery are the order of the day. Italy and Israel are poster-boys for ill-functioning parliamentary democracies.

In a presidential system of government, there is only the President who is elected by popular mandate as in USA and Brazil. In them, the three arms of government – the Judiciary, Legislature and Executive – exercise independent roles but oversight each other as set out in their constitutions. In it, the buck stops with the President in all decisions of making war, directing the economy, declaring emergencies and giving direction to the entire country. The President is baba na mama!

The Harmonised Draft is giving us a Russian model of government. In Russia, the President is elected by popular mandate and has exact powers like those set out in the draft; and the Prime Minister is likewise. Western military analysts have contemptuously said that Russia is like Burkina Faso but with oil and nuclear weapons!

There, Dmitry Medvedev elected by popular mandate and living in the Kremlin is over-shadowed by Vladimir Putin the Prime Minister, elected by the Duma. To do any deal with Russia, western governments officially meet Medvedev but also call on Putin. It is a two-beasted government.

Henry Kissinger, a pre-eminent diplomat and political strategist, once in exasperation wondered “who to call if I want to speak to Europe”! If we promulgate the draft, whom will Kenyans look up to to guide us? Whose word will our foreign allies take? Whose policies will we implement? In the event of civil war or foreign invasion, whose word will we take? What will happen if the Cabinet and Parliament play rogue to the President?

Kenyans must decide on one system of popular mandate for its chief executive; either fully presidential like USA or parliamentary like Germany but not a mongrel like Russia. We do not have either oil or nuclear weapons to sustain such a false political system. If we want a maridadi president, let parliament like in Germany and Ethiopia appoint him. Kenyans should not attend campaign rallies and kill each other for a President who will not even allocate land or create a district.

Donald B. Kipkorir is an advocate of the High Court dkipkorir@ktk.co.ke