Ford Kenya joins campaign for parliamentary system

Ford Kenya party has called for the amendment of the Constitution to have a parliamentary system of government and 45 percent of the national revenue devolved to the counties.

The party also wants the national electoral management system overhauled as part of the effort to restore faith in elections.

In a statement on Thursday, the party said a parliamentary system will accommodate the interests of a wider spectrum of social and political actors as it does not have the ‘winner-takes-it-all’ restrictive structure that has messed up the country.

“We want the Senate strengthened to enable it provide effective oversight to the counties, the Judiciary and other investigative agencies to ensure that they play their role efficiently and effectively, particularly in the war against corruption,” the party said after a meeting of its management board.

REFORMS

The meeting, chaired by leader Moses Wetang’ula, who is also the Bungoma senator, was held at the party’s headquarters in Nairobi.

Among the electoral systems Ford Kenya wants overhauled are the voter registration process as well as the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

It also called for thorough vetting of the personnel, systems and processes of the commission.

“There is a need to review electoral laws to support more credible elections and to enable fair and expeditious resolution of election disputes. This may include incorporating alternative dispute resolution mechanisms,” the party said.

UNITY

During the meeting, the leadership received and adopted a report from the technical committee, constituted to develop proposals for the Building Bridges to National Unity Task Force, a product of the March 9, 2018 handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr Raila Odinga.

In its report, the committee recommends the party agrees with the objective of building bridges across communities that will create lasting unity.

However, it is of the view that this must not be at the expense of muzzling a robust and thriving political opposition that will provide an effective check on the government of the day.

It also calls on President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga to expand the membership of the task force to make it more representative and inclusive of other key stakeholders.