The Constitution is for the people, referendum must be about them

There are campaigns to have Constitution reviewed. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Most referendums are about a single issue (proposal) about which the public are asked to ballot in support or against or to accept or reject.
  • Legislators backing change of the constitution should first complete its implementation by legislating the gender question.

Kenyans must not be stampeded into a referendum until its objectives, mechanics, process and question have been worked out, agreed and confirmed as people-anchored. Here's why.

In the 2010 referendum, we were asked to vote Yes or No to adopt the draft constitution assembled by the Committee of Experts.

It was a simple matter. We voted to adopt the draft. But now we want to rethink it, which is no simple matter. Let me explain.

In June 2016, Brits voted in a referendum in which they were asked to choose between remaining in or quitting the European Union.

It was a simple choice. They voted to exit. They are now stuck in an unending row over how to leave.

Popular practice and precedent are that a referendum question is short, unambiguous and focused.

Second, most referendums are about a single issue (proposal) about which the public are asked to ballot in support or against or to accept or reject.

BREXIT

Brits were asked to choose between remaining a member of the EU or quitting the union.

What the EU is, the rules governing quitting, the trade alternatives available outside it or the economic, social and political impacts of quitting, were not a factor in the design of question or subsequent campaigns.

But these are now the issues confronting the United Kingdom – the 52 percent of the 33 million who voted to exit and the 48 percent who voted to remain.

Put another way, the complex ramifications of exiting the EU were never on the table as Brits answered the simple remain or leave question.

Welcome home. Remember that old man who appeared on TV during the campaigns for the referendum on the 2005 draft constitution?

He said: “I have not read the constitution but (Mr) Raila (Odinga) has and he says it is bad. If Raila says it is bad, then, it is bad.”

RAILA

But Mr Odinga is a complex businessman and an even more complicated political animal.

He backed a parliamentary style democracy in 2005 and a presidential one in 2010.

On February 28, 2018 he called the government a malevolent dictatorship.

Then on March 9 he sold the opposition down the river in a cop out that took his party MPs to join the already massive majority of President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee.

He was running with the hare and hunting with the hounds.

Now he and President Kenyatta are canvassing for a change-the-constitution referendum on the false prospectus that Kenya's elections are plagued by violence because of their all-or-nothing format.

CONSEQUENCE

The Brexit referendum was won on a massive lie emblazoned on a campaign bus.

It declared that the UK sends £350 million to the EU every week. Quitting the union would ensure these funds run the beloved free-of-charge National Health Service.

A simple yes-or-no-answer question spawned misunderstanding, manipulation and understatement of the issues and, therefore, result of the ballot in a developed country.

What confusion might a multiple-answer question or a multiple-question referendum cause in Kenya?

We must consider the matter of a multiple-answer question (give more than one answer to one question) referendum, or a multiple question (more than one question) referendum. Why?

One, there are many issues about the Constitution that need rethinking, including devolution, gender, representation, elections, inclusivity and financial management to name only six.

Each of these could be the basis for a proposal (question) for a referendum.

IEBC

Two, the vested interests. Some just want a change as in 1991 when Kenya became a multiparty state with a single party state constitution; politicians angling for routes to power; extremists who want President Kenyatta’s reign extended; and campaigners for a genuine people and law-anchored rethink.

I name only four. All claim to act on behalf of Kenyans. All want a question, referendum and result that favour them.

Now, who will design the question and process of the referendum? Mr Odinga completely destroyed the reputation of polls umpire IEBC before, during and after the 2017 General Election.

So, I rule out IEBC as currently constituted because the constitution belongs to the people of Kenya and they must own the objectives, question(s) and process of rethinking it.

The Building Bridges Initiative cannot design the process because it is a tool of an exclusive and secret contract on Kenya between President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga.

And legislators backing change of the constitution should first complete its implementation by legislating the gender question.

Yes, rethinking the constitution is a complex idea.

Kwendo Opanga is a communications expert and a commentator on political and social issues: [email protected]