BBI: Proposal to revive leader of official opposition
What you need to know:
The handshake, though well-meaning, left the country in an awkward position regarding the role of the opposition as a watchdog.
- Past holders of the office include Jaramogi Oginga Odinga after the 1992 elections, Kijana Wamalwa, Mr Mwai Kibaki, Mr Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr Odinga.
- Mwai Kibaki and President Uhuru Kenyatta successfully rode on the position to become Presidents.
The proposal to reintroduce the position of Leader of the Official Opposition in Kenyan politics could mark the reinstatement of a more vibrant opposition in Parliament that would play effectively its role of keeping the government of the day in check.
POWER-SHARING
The role of the opposition has come into sharp focus in recent years following developments relating to political realignments, power-sharing arrangements, constitutional changes and more recently, the historical March 2018 handshake between President Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga.
For many political analysts and critics, the handshake, though well-meaning, left the country in an awkward position regarding the role of the opposition as a watchdog.
One of the greatest concerns for political pundits in Kenya and beyond when the two put aside their political differences and announced their unity pact was what that meant for the opposition, given ODM’s role in critiquing the government, which Mr Odinga was now becoming part of
Among the critics was Deputy President William Ruto, who proposed earlier this year the need for a strong opposition to keep the government in check.
ALTERNATIVE GOVT
In his words, “the current formulation undermines executive accountability and saddles our democracy with a headless, incoherent and dysfunctional opposition”.
Kenya has previously had periods when it had powerful Official Opposition leaders in Parliament backed by a complete shadow Cabinet, where the opposition would have specific members shadowing respective ministers, taking the government to task.
Past holders of the office include Jaramogi Oginga Odinga after the 1992 elections, Kijana Wamalwa, Mr Mwai Kibaki, Mr Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr Odinga.
They led aggressive and powerful teams that provided an alternative government in and out of Parliament.
As the leader of the party with the second majority members in Parliament and together with his shadow Cabinet, they occupied the Official Opposition front bench, with the leader of the official opposition as the official spokesman of the opposition tugging along a shadow Cabinet that would interrogate government policies and challenge deficiencies It is a feature in the Westminister parliamentary system of government.
SHADOW CABINET
The official opposition leader has on the other side of the government the Leader of Government Business to face, often the Deputy President, as the official spokesperson of the government coordinating all its matters in Parliament.
The role of shadow Cabinet ministers is mainly to scrutinise the happenings in respective dockets and putting the minister in charge to task where necessary, while offering alternative solutions to issues.
This would be the person to point out areas and matters that needed immediate attention as the opposition sought to assert its watchdog role for the citizenry.
In some instances, the shadow Cabinet minister for Finance would, for instance, prepare, with the help of the shadow Cabinet, an alternative budget during budget reading, without clashing with the government’s presentations.
DIVIDED OPPOSITION
Former President Mwai Kibaki and President Uhuru Kenyatta are previous holders of the office of the official opposition who successfully rode on the position to become Presidents. Both held parliamentary offices as elected MPs.
From 1998, Mr Kibaki served as the Leader of the Official Opposition, with his Democratic Party as the official opposition party in Parliament, until 2002 when he was elected President on a Narc ticket, which brought together several opposition parties. He had contested the presidency twice — in 1992 against President Daniel Arap Moi, Mr Kenneth Matiba and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and again in 1997 when he lost to Moi, alongside a divided opposition.
Mr Kenyatta served as Leader of Official Opposition from 2003 until 2008 after losing to Mr Kibaki, then the opposition candidate, on his first attempt at Presidency on a Kanu ticket.
MINORITY LEADER
The Leader of the Official Opposition would also chair the Public Accounts Committee- one of the two powerful watchdog committees of Parliament, with the opposition members as the majority in his team.
Currently what we have in Parliament is a Minority Leader who coordinates and is the official voice of the opposition side while the Majority Leader does the same for the government side.
