In any constitutional change, let’s first cut the blot on MPs, MCAs, commissions

The board game has three players. There is Raila Odinga, who has taken a position for constitutional changes to create a parliamentary system. There is Deputy President William Ruto, who has vehemently opposed any changes. The third and most important player, President Uhuru Kenyatta, has not uttered a word. He has avoided taking a stand opposing Raila’s position. His silence is, indeed, more telling than words.

Ruto’s allies have vowed that “we won’t accept” the constitution proposal Raila is pushing. That’s a very robust position to take unless you have a strong hand to play which, in this case, they don’t have. They have gone a step further. They have openly challenged Uhuru to come clean on what is going on. The President has ignored them.

Raila seems to be in a great hurry. Last Tuesday, he summoned the national executive committee of his ODM party to Gilgil, where he told them to prepare for a referendum.

AMEND CONSTITUTION

Separately, Raila’s two deputies in the party, Governors Wycliffe Oparanya of Kakamega and Hassan Joho of Mombasa, have supported amending the constitution, but Joho’s support has come with a caveat. He wants a people-driven process, where citizens agree on which changes to make.

More or less the same thing has been said by Musalia Mudavadi, who is suspicious of a referendum to create jobs for “some people.” He means Raila, who never bothered to inform his Nasa colleagues when he did the “handshake” on March 9.

Otherwise, Musalia has been quoted as saying he is not opposed to constitutional amendments in principle, but for the moment he is mixed up in a muddled unity transaction with Moses Wetang’ula’s Ford-Kenya party. For whatever it is worth, Kalonzo Musyoka has backed the referendum push, as has his rival, Governor Alfred Mutua of Machakos.

It stands to reason that Uhuru could be playing one side, while leading another up the garden path. Still, he knows one thing very well: Once the referendum train leaves the station, there will be no way to stop it. Meanwhile, the 14-member advisory team charged with implementing the “handshake” deal got together for a familiarisation lunch on Thursday. It will hold a retreat soon to agree on a work plan, which is likely to have a bearing on any constitutional changes being proposed.

HANDSHAKE

The “handshake” may have been taking shape even before it was officially made public. Recall the December election of Raila’s 74-year-old brother, Oburu Oginga, to the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) with a decisive bloc of Jubilee parliamentary votes to add to those of ODM.

The Jubilee MPs, led by Aden Duale, may have thought it was just a routine goodwill gesture to the Opposition, without a hidden meaning. Maybe. Or maybe it was more than that. The other candidate to benefit from this inter-party amity was Kalonzo’s son, Kennedy, who was also overwhelmingly voted into Eala.

Taxpayers will hesitate to embrace constitutional changes designed to expand the Executive branch only, unless these are accompanied by a drastic reduction of the gross burden they bear in funding a bloated governance structure – that is, reducing the numbers of elected and nominated MPs and MCAs, and shrinking the number of constitutional commissions.

GREAT BURDEN

In a pointer to the great burden Wanjiku suffers, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) is in court complaining about the limitation by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission of monthly JSC sittings to eight. Each sitting used to earn each commissioner a cool Sh80,000 allowance. I don’t think this has changed. Per month this translates to Sh640,000, which is on top of the salaries and emoluments these commissioners earn elsewhere. Being in government has become a business.

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The Solai dam raises wrenching questions. It was blocking upstream inflows without a controlled spillway.   Besides, its fortifications were shoddy. This was dangerous, and should not have been allowed. Condolences to the bereaved.

Gitau Warigi is a socio-political commentator [email protected]