Constitution now under threat as tyranny of MPs worries Kenyans

There must have been a very good reason why the drafters of the Constitution 2010 found it necessary to divorce legislative from executive functions in government.

But MPs now want to blur the separation of powers by having some among them appointed Cabinet Secretaries.

They do not see why people who are not elected should be rewarded by being made ministers.

And so, led by journalist-turned-politician Ayub Savula, they have hit upon the idea of passing a constitutional amendment Bill, compelling the President to pick the Cabinet from among them.

They may have a point, but I fail to see it. To me, this is just another attempt at mangling the Constitution.

Let’s put it this way. In certain respects, our admirable Constitution is a hybrid between the Westminster model we have been using for 46 years, and which was soundly rejected in 2010, and the American model in which Cabinet Secretaries are, by law, appointed from outside the Legislature.

But now it seems our MPs  want to turn the Constitution into a mongrel. There is a world of difference between a hybrid and a mongrel.

One of the reasons why MPs say the President should choose his Cabinet from Parliament is that they never get the chance to question Cabinet Secretaries. Fair enough.

But the converse is also true. Because ministers are supposed to be apolitical, MPs have little chance of influencing their decisions individually.

In my view, the MPs are more concerned about their inability to blackmail ministers the way they used to do with pork barrel demands.

ANTAGONISE EVERYONE

The point is, the MPs feel rather impotent in the face of a constitutional provision they fully endorsed. But then, one should be forgiven for asking: If the congressional committee system works in the US, why shouldn’t the parliamentary committee system work in Kenya?

Probably because some chairpersons of parliamentary committees are so full of themselves, so conceited, they antagonise everyone they summon.

What is not clear so far is whether this Motion is likely to get bipartisan support, but these folks have a habit of forgetting their party differences on issues that benefit them personally.

Therefore, in the next three months, the defenders of the Constitution must start readying their war-chests, and the President his veto pen.

Indeed, one of the reasons advanced by the Bill’s proponents sounds specious to the extreme: That the present crop of Cabinet Secretaries is prone to inertia and there is “discontent and disappointment” over its performance.

Things get even more interesting when Mr Savula explains why MPs should become ministers. “Since MPs are elected representatives they are… accountable to the people and hence in the public interest.”

Accountable to the people, Mr Savula? Since when? In our experience, MPs are accountable only to themselves, to their families and cronies, to their clans and tribes, and only incidentally, to their constituents.

Political parties are mere vehicles to that end. MPs simply want ministers under their thumbs so that they can more easily navigate their way to the feeding trough. Period.

ONSLAUGHT

In fact, this move jells nicely with another Bill fronted by Eldas MP Adan Keynan, which will make it a punishable offence for any media to broadcast, televise, or transmit the proceedings of Parliament or its committees unless granted permission by the Speakers of the National Assembly or Senate, or the committee chairpersons. What arrant nonsense!

In an onslaught on the Judiciary as well, the amendment also provides that no proceedings or decisions of Parliament or any of its committees shall be questioned in court.

Of course, it does not mention what will happen should a judge disregard this order. Will the MPs summon the police to arrest the specific judge who disagrees with any decision they make?

It appears the National Assembly is becoming a greater danger to this country, its Constitution and all other institutions of governance than any other institution in the land.

It cannot be that Kenyans struggled mightily to dislodge despotism of the Executive only to replace it with tyranny of the Legislature.

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