Participate or withdraw

Mutula Kilonzo, the Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs, determined to showcase the hypocrisy of his fellow Members of Parliament, went ahead and introduced in the National Assembly the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2011. Hon Kilonzo is adamant - in this he is supported by the Secretary to the National Cohesion and Integration Commission and the newly appointed Chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission - that the 2012 general elections cannot possibly be held in August of that year because of the logistical arrangements that must be made. Mandarins in the Treasury agree with the Minister, arguing that the procedure laid down in the Constitution for the presentation, debate and approval of government estimates preclude an election in August. The Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution is not persuaded by the Minister's rationale for amending the Constitution to shift the date of the general election and it is one among other parties that have approached the courts to obtain a final word on when the elections can be held.

Members of Parliament are livid with the Minister for Justice because he has combined several constitutional amendments in that one Bill. While they have a near-unanimous agreement that the elections should be held in December, they are disunited on the content of the other proposed amendments. Hon Millie Adhiambo-Mabona and Hon Rachel Shebesh have led from the front in objecting to the proposals that the Minister says will improve the Articles dealing with the two-thirds Gender Rule in the Constitution, arguing that the Minister's proposals will water down the gains that have been made on the gender equality front since the 1990s.

But as is common with this Parliament, the issues are not being discussed with a view to compromise, but they as political weapons of mass destruction deployed by one side of the Grand Coalition against the other. Despite the fact that Prime Minister Raila Odinga has yet to state what his position is on the proposals, it must be presumed that as the proposals received the stamp of approval from the Cabinet he must have endorsed them before they were put together in Hon Kilonzo's Bill. This must be the case too with regards to the President's position; after all it is his government. The Speaker of the National Assembly was surely right to refuse to bow down to the wishes of the vocal opposition to the introduction of what they considered an omnibus Bill and by allowing the National Assembly to deal with the matter he has opened up opportunities for parties truly interested in shooting down the Bill to participate fully in the debate that must ensue. Article 255 is very clear about the participation of the public in the process of amending the Constitution and every person interested in this matter has 90 days to make their views known as fully and widely as possible.

We are notorious for manufacturing crises where none exist, and we take our cues in this regard from men and women who have proven time and again that they are very poor political actors. When the Cabinet decided that amending the Constitution was warranted, it did so after considering fully the implications of its proposals. It may have publicised its intentions poorly - the Budget-cycle argument persuaded no one. While I am convinced that shifting the date of the elections from August to December is foolhardy, I do not deny the right of the Cabinet to make the proposal nor that of the National Assembly to consider it. Kenya is still a republic and it is the representative nature of government that we have chose for ourselves. Therefore it is improper for an elite group of men and women to presume to speak for the entire nation without a proper debate being had. Whether the amendments are approved or not, it is up to all of us as right thinking Kenyans to particpate in the process. If we do not and the national Assembly acts contrary to our desires, then we will have none to blame but ourselves. The Constitution may be flawed in many ways, but the Committee of Experts did us proud by ensuring that the process of dealing with it required our tacit and explicit participation. We must take advantage of the 90 days granted us by the Constitution to influence the process to our own ends. It is the right and proper thing to do.