With Muturi as Speaker, Kenya is doomed

When Lewis Hamilton, the British Formula 1 driver, suffered a series of misfortunes in this season’s races starting with the Monaco one, he said his misfortunes were more than just mere bad luck.

He subtly made the point that none of the accidents were attributable to his personal slip-ups. He didn’t say it but everyone knew that his finger pointed towards the higher echelons of Team Mercedes.

The misfortunes, the bad press and poor performance of the Jubilee government is not just because of bad luck and the push by a re-energised opposition.

The Uhuru Administration is not firing in all the cylinders as was projected. It is not as visionary as prayed. It is not focused and disciplined.

In the past 12 months, it has fought unnecessary wars. It has made unnecessary political enemies. It squandered many golden opportunities. And it chose the wrong priorities. All these are the least of the problems it faces.

Many Kenyans want to give the government more time. They appreciate that the learning curve for the Uhuru Administration has fairly been steep.

Uhuru’s biggest and most potent enemy is not the Opposition, the Judiciary, the civil society or Western embassies and their governments. The biggest and most lethal enemy that faces Uhuru and his government comes from Parliament under the pitiful leadership of Speaker Justin Muturi.

The government’s misfortunes are the sole creation of the new face of impunity, the Speaker of Parliament. His tenure as Speaker has been a calamitous and sacrilegious defilement of the Constitution. He has, in a mere 12 months, reduced the august House into a smouldering rubble of parliamentary tomfoolery. In a single year, he has made Parliament a rogue institution unaccountable to anyone.

He tried to destroy the Judiciary and routinely passes legislation that flouts the Constitution, all with a view to destroying devolution. He allows just a few pre-selected and pre-screened MPs on the government’s side to contribute to debate. He has silenced the Opposition.

Never has a Kenyan parliament been led by a more inept, incompetent, dull, unknowledgeable and ignorant Speaker. This is the result you get when greatness is forced on a political dwarf.

OUT OF HIS DEPTH

The burden on his shoulders makes his knees crack and give in and, as he tumbles and sinks, he will take many with him. Muturi has all the shortcomings of a man out of his depth clowning on a national stage with the Kenyan population watching in utter bewilderment.

It is not his dismissal of court orders as nonsense and idiotic that will cause the country lasting damage. It is not his dismissal of the Supreme Court’s advisory opinion as worthless that should concern Kenyans.

The Judiciary can be trusted to look after its turf and the interests of Kenyans. What should frighten Kenyans are two virulent shortcomings of the Speaker. Whether it is due to political haughtiness or deficiencies in his training as a lawyer, Muturi has a penchant for breaching the Constitution.

The House has passed countless statutes and amendments that are blatantly unconstitutional. Most of these unconstitutional amendments are designed to undermine devolution and county governments.

Playing the role of a partisan Speaker, Muturi is a hired gun in the hands of those who seek to undermine governors and county governments. He bestows -- through unconstitutional amendments -- powers, privileges and honours on Members of Parliament, Senators and the national government all with the sole intention of undermining devolution.

The second lethal shortcoming is that he is a political activist passing off as a neutral Speaker of Parliament. Even his demeanour in the Chair is repulsive.

He shrieks, shrills and hisses when giving orders. His rulings on matters of law and politics from the Chair are superficial and pedestrian. His grasp of law and parliamentary procedure are at best laughable.

But it is his partisan and small-minded moderation of parliamentary debates that should alarm Kenyans. Parliament will either shut or suffer mass boycott if Muturi is not replaced as a matter of national priority. He stifles debate.

He defines and delimits the tenor and contours of debates. He ignores the Opposition. Parliament is an empty shell!

Senior Counsel Abdullahi is the publisher, Nairobi Law Monthly [email protected]