Devolution: How our MPs ran away with the trophy

In the past one week, diverse groups protested against the decisions of the Parliamentary Select Committee to tamper with no-controversial issues of the draft constitution.

Someone suggested that the MPs sitting in the PSC had arrogated to themselves the power to write a fresh constitution.

I did not support that view until I saw what emanated from their final day’s work last week. Women protested at the deletion of a clause that guarantees women and men equal rights at the onset, during and at the dissolution of marriage.

Gender equality is a fundamental human right, but in Kenya, where male chauvinism holds sway, this may be long in coming.

The MPs have also deleted any reference to civil society’s role in the running of government. This means that civil society’s oversight role has been brought to a rude end after very commendable gains. Let me emphasise this loss.

In the now discernible plot to cannibalise the draft constitution and to deny it the sharp teeth it had gained, the PSC denied the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights the protection of the constitution.

It is well known that KNCHR is the one most lethal witness to the 2007 post-election violence. In a way, it is the only effective government institution that acts as the people’s defender. MPs have mortal fear of this institution.

Other groups that lost the plot are religious groups which demanded the inclusion of a clause defining when life starts, and the local governments which feature nowhere in the draft.

Local governments are the closest governmental entities to the people. When taking part in the activities of local government, citizens feel they are participating in decision-making on matters that affect their daily lives. Now is the time for local governments and the people to protest. That is where I come in.

From the beginning, the PSC went about its business with stealth. The MPs soothingly hoodwinked Kenyans that they did not have to vote on any issues because there was consensus all the way.

But what else did we expect? What can you expect from a Council of Poachers vested with the power to curl white rhinos and elephants from a national park? They will keep reassuring you that the numbers were being retained at manageable levels while they decimate the herds for gain.

The MPs at the Great Rift Valley Lodge were always shown strolling about from negotiation halls wearing feigned innocence. But all they are doing is sharing power among themselves and making all attempts to exclude others.

It was a question of ‘scratch my back and I scratch yours’. That is what they are calling consensus. Let us face the facts.

A two-tier system of government based on regions that has emerged is a form of political devolution locally known as majimbo. It is a restoration of the 1963 form of governance which was abandoned in preference for a unitary state.

It was perceived then that this form of government promoted tribalism, ethnicity, sectionalism and disunity. Under that form of governance, local authorities were created and dissolved by the majimbo governments.

They were nothing more than village councils for keeping the people busy. The real power resided with the majimbo governments which, as proposed by the PSC, were able to keep the central government in check.

But truth be told, the councils were well-endowed with functions and finances to run services such as roads and infrastructure, health, education and social services.

However, they did so only as agents of the majimbo governments under the Local Government Regulations which were converted into an Act of Parliament only in 1977.

I see mischief in the proposed form of majimbo. In my opinion, majimboists were lurking on the sidelines waiting to strike for a kill. These are political barons and wealthy landlords who want to keep the people under serfdom into eternity.

If we allow majimbo, we shall have endorsed a system of warlords who rule in failed states. We must remain very conscious that true power resides with the people.

We must also guard the ultimate principle that dictates that true democracy is in the people and not powerful presidents or powerful warlords.

Can we, as Kenyans who have waited for over 20 years for a new constitution allow the MPs to throw away the beautiful child with the bath water?
My verdict on this score is that the Naivasha deal on devolution may turn out to be our Waterloo.

Mr Wamwangi, a former Thika Town Clerk, is a local government and human resources consultant.

(kwamwangimdp@yahoo.com)