American governance system, too, has its flaws

Some Sundays ago, I was talking about how much we borrowed from the American system of government as we made our 2010 Constitution.

There are many things a lot of us admire about American democracy and therein one finds the explanation as to the enthusiasm with which we embraced the American system.

At the present moment however, there seems to be a problem in that most powerful nation of the world.

Perhaps because he did not emerge from the political establishment like most of the others before him, the current President of the United States of America seems to be doing the business of leading America in a most unconventional manner.

A section of the political party he claims to belong to is supporting him maybe for the sake of the party.

TRUMP BANNED

There is however another side of the same party that does not agree with him. Just last weekend there was a major event in Washington DC.

For three days leaders and other concerned Americans gathered to honour and bid farewell to Senator John McCain, one of most influential politicians of the Republican Party.

The late Senator was so fed up with Donald Trump’s conduct and style of leadership that he left a will indicating that the President should be nowhere near his funeral celebrations.

Indeed, Trump did not at all present himself at those celebrations.

It seems therefore that in spite of all the admiration we have for the American system, they also have a fair share of their own intrigues.

JUDGE NOMINATION

A good example would be the vetting of President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court.

The Republicans had all the relevant documents but gave 42,000 of them to the Democrats only a day before the hearing. Of course the latter protested vigorously.

The most interesting part in this process was the revelation that this judge whose name had been forwarded is one who had published quite a good bit on presidential powers and his opinion seems to be that the President of the United States cannot be subjected to any legal procedure.

In the light of the ongoing investigations by a special counsel regarding the Russian likely involvement in the 2016 elections, such views by a judge in the Supreme Court would be very useful to President Trump and his men.

IMPERFECT

Mark you the Americans are going through an important political period at the moment as they prepare for the mid-term elections in November.

There is no doubt whatsoever that how these elections turnout will have an important impact on the next two years of Trump’s administration.

Yes, we do admire a lot about the American system but they too have their issues some of which are quite enormous.

Fr Wamugunda is Dean of Students, University of Nairobi. [email protected]