Uhuru and Raila should use their bully pulpits to preach harmony and to seek it

National Super Alliance (Nasa) presidential candidate Raila Odinga addresses the media at Okoa Kenya Offices after meeting Bunge la Wenye Nchi officials. While Nasa is busying pushing for changes in IEBC, Jubilee is also attacking the Judiciary. Both camps need to have a dialogue on how to hold elections and avoid a constitutional crisis. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • We will not meet or talk to Nasa; we are ready and Kenyans are ready for the election, but Mr Odinga is running scared, declares Mr Ruto. We will not take part in the election and will make sure Jubilee does not vote either, thunders Nasa.

  • Jubilee is preoccupied with scrapping and capping the powers of the Supreme Court should it win the re-run. But it does not consider or debate the possibility of a constitutional crisis from which the apex court would have to deliver the country.

  • Nasa, too, is pushing too hard for poll changes to publicly consider there may not be enough time to prepare and re-run the election.

Daggers are drawn and the battle lines are drawn. Each protagonist speaks with proprietary authority and finality complete with the alacrity and ferocity of a Tasmanian devil.

The rivalrous protagonists are President Uhuru Kenyatta, Deputy President William Ruto and Jubilee Party ranged against Mr Raila Odinga, running mate Kalonzo Musyoka and National Super Alliance (Nasa).

Jubilee and Nasa have customised and weaponised the nullification by the Supreme Court on September 1 of the declaration by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) that President Kenyatta won the August 8 presidential election.

We will not meet or talk to Nasa; we are ready and Kenyans are ready for the election, but Mr Odinga is running scared, declares Mr Ruto. We will not take part in the election and will make sure Jubilee does not vote either, thunders Nasa.

BULLYING

Why the blatant bullying? Because when it comes to frustrating and undermining judges and courts, President Kenyatta and Mr Ruto are uniquely talented and experienced.

Just ask the International Criminal Court (ICC) and Chief Prosecutor Madam Fatou Bensouda.

Angry, abusive and backed by experience against a global court, President and Deputy have targeted Kenya’s Supreme Court and Chief Justice David Maraga and got stuck in.

They have been intimidating Mr Maraga and the justices a la ICC since September 1 by warning the justices of dire consequences should they win the court-ordered election re-run; calling them thugs; and having their supporters march and file petitions against them.

Mr Odinga and Nasa are equally vastly gifted and experienced in fighting poll umpires and are just as die-hard.

CHANGES

Only last year, they led demonstrations against IEBC which culminated in the exit of chairman Isaack Hassan and his team.

Buoyed by the Supreme Court’s indictment of IEBC as a bungling law breaker, Nasa has targeted the polls umpire and got stuck in. It has branded IEBC vote thieves and unveiled sweeping changes they want effected failing which they will disrupt the re-run.

The poll changes demanded by Nasa range from what should be on the ballots to what should be scanned for tallying; from the agents and election managers to who should not print the ballots; and from poll monitors to who should exit IEBC.

However, strictly, the apocalypse Jubilee reads and dreads in them is exaggerated.

HOSTAGE

Consider that Jubilee is using mass action to intimidate the Judiciary, a co-equal arm of government, but the Executive, via Mr Ruto, is branding Nasa’s threat of mass action taking Kenyans hostage. Here’s why threatening justices and IEBC may be comparable to taking Kenyans hostage.

One, Jubilee is preoccupied with scrapping and capping the powers of the Supreme Court should it win the re-run. But it does not consider or debate the possibility of a constitutional crisis from which the apex court would have to deliver the country. Yes, suppose an election is not possible on October 26.

Nasa, too, is pushing too hard for poll changes to publicly consider there may not be enough time to prepare and re-run the election.

If after 60 days (from September 1) there has not been an election, Nasa will certainly challenge President Kenyatta’s stay in power.

Two, this presents a constitutional crisis. Listen to Mr Isaac Okero, the President of the Law Society of Kenya: “If there is no swearing-in of a president after 60 days, then how does the current President come out of the state of temporary incumbency? Except by completely disregarding the constitution, in which case then is he still the President. It is a difficult question.”

CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS

Indeed it is. A constitutional crisis presents when the constitution does not provide a solution to a political predicament that hinders the smooth running of government. The best way to avoid this crisis is to vote on October 26 or within 60 days. Which is why dialogue to find a mutually acceptable solution should be on the table.

It is why the protagonists must cease the Tasmanian devil’s never-ending howling and give dialogue about process, exigency and time a chance.

The dialogue should be about how to hold the election and avoid a constitutional crisis and not how to share power.

It should be about buttressing the independence and strengthening the effectiveness of the co-equal arms of government and constitutional institutions and, therefore, democracy.

Put another way, President and Deputy, Mr Odinga and Mr Musyoka must use their bully pulpits to preach harmony and to seek it.

 

Opanga is a commentator with a bias for politics [email protected]