For the last few days , president elect William Samoei Ruto has embarked on a mission to cripple the opposition. In this case , am assuming that , there is no pending Supreme Court battle which Azimio la Umoja brigade is preparing to mount to challenge Ruto's presidential win. In just one day , Ruto and his Kenya Kwanza Alliance managed to buy off all the Members of National Assembly (MNAs) who vied on an independent ticket. Majority of this candidate decided to vie vie on an independent candidates after being denied tickets by this big parties. In this case I mean , UDA , ODM or Jubilee Party. By being independent candidates in the August house , they are in a pole position to negotiate for something better for their Constituents without necessarily joining Kenya Kwanza Alliance which at this point are slated to form the next Government. I don't think what informed their decision but it is simple. They believe , everytime we have a President in this Country , when it comes to resource allocations and distribution , he always have the yam and the knife. That's why , they decided to join the Alliance without any negotiations and if there is , am waiting to see when the ruling coalition which as we speak it is commanding numbers in both houses how it will fix them in house committees leadership.
The independent candidates should form their own caucus because , it will be helping them to enable the national assembly to make informed decisions that touches, first their Constituencies and second , the whole Nation as law makers. Ruto understands fully their role and impact in the August House and that's the reason who quickly went for them in his usual carrot and stick politics. So far , he has trapped them with the carrot. Their voice in the National Assembly has now been sewed and every time they will try to raise an issue on controversial bills and motions that traverse our constitution , they will be reminded that , in African culture , it is bad manners to speak with food in your mouth. That's the painful reality. How I wish that , they should continue maintaining the independence of their minds , hearts and souls. They aren't answerable to any political party not party leader. They are only answerable to their electorates.
Yesterday , Ruto poached United Democratic Movement (UDM). This party is owned by former Mandera County Governor Captain Ali Roba brought his contingent to Kenya Kwanza Alliance. So far , Ali Roba vied for Mandera County Senatorial seat on a UDM and won. His party has 5 MNAs who will top up the numbers Ruto commandeer in the August House. What's worrying is that UDM was technically in Azimio la Umoja if not officially. The paranoia they have is , they may end up in the opposition for the next five years. In African politics , you must coalesce around the President who wield power for you to benefit Economically. If you fail to do that , you will end up getting the short end of the stick in as far as resource allocations and State largesse is concerned. By saying so , I understand why this Northern Frontier district political party decided to jettison from Azimio la Umoja and join Kenya Kwanza Alliance yesterday.
HORSE TRADING
President elect William Ruto immediately after IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati declared him the winner of the recently concluded presidential election , he briefed the media who had an opportunity to ask him questions. He ruled out any possibility of him and his opponent Raila Odinga to have a handshake. He continued to say , he doesn't anticipate to have a mongrel of a goverment whereby , you can't tell who is running it and who is in tht opposition. He opined that , he will want to have a formidable Opposition that will keep his administration in check. From that statement alone , I saluted him. That's how liberal democracies operate. Any political system that terms itself mature democratically , Opposition forms a very critical part in governance of that Country. In Authoritarian regimes both in Africa , Asia, Europe and South America , the sitting Government always conduct a purge on it and majority ends up exiled , held incommunicado and others killed and detained without trial. Reason??? Because of doing their role of oversight and criticizing the government of the day. Kenya is a democracy and I don't think , the gains we have made since the inception of pluralism back in 1991 can be drained and we get back on the streets to protest because of a despotic , autocraic , kleptocratic and dictatorial regime.
The kind of horse trading William Ruto is doing in the national assembly is worrying. What is that that is fearing by having a strong opposition? As usual , he is a reknown master of double speak. From now hence forth , let him be gentle enough to be owning every word that comes out of his mouth. He should shun from preaching water and then drink concentrated wine. He should always walk the talk. What's is the essence of telling Kenyans that you want this Country to have a strong opposition so as to check your administration but ends up buying off all the political parties forming the opposition? What is that which you are planning to do in you administration and you are fearing , you need to fight trample on the opposition, weaken it and eventually render it ineffective and ends up orchestrating a dictatorship through parliament? Only Presidents who want to be Machiavellian takes that route. Those who believe in Democratic ideals , they ensure that , in their political systems , Opposition is given the leverage to conduct its businesses in peace. I have never heard Democrats buying Republicans to jump ship to join them just because the POTUS is a Democrat. I have never heard Conservatives in UK buying off Labour Party MPs to cross to them in the house of Commons or Lords just because the Prime Minister is from conservative party.
The formulators of the 2010 constitution did a marvelous job of giving us a very good constitution that robed the Head of State alot of power which he was wielding. The independence constitution which we started using since 1963 upto 2013 when President Uhuru Kenyatta took over had given the President alot of POWERS. The 2010 , hived most of this powers and distributed them to the other two arms of the government , that is , Judiciary and Legislature. That's why , legislature is now one of the strongest arms of the government. Borrowing from French political thinker and Philosopher Charles Louis de Montesquieu who coined the separation of powers doctrine , concentrating powers to one person and in this case , John Locke Leviathan. The Parliament should transact its business with decorum and carry aspirations of its citizenry. Most DICTATORS always ensures that , it has come an appendage of the Executive. By doing this , they just become a rubber stand of the Executive. That's where the genesis of Kenyans will stem from.
Back in 2010 before the promulgation of our new constitution , the 10th Parliament retreated in Naivasha through a select committee to iron some nitty gritty issues which were domiciled in that Constitution. The Committee of Experts (CoE) led by the late Senior Counsel Nzamba Kitonga had just formally handed over that document to the late President Mwai Kibaki and the then Prime Minister Raila Odinga. After the select committee on legislation took that document to Naivasha , they severely mutilated it. The scrapped the office of official opposition leader. Instead , they replaced it with minority leader seat. This minority leader seat they decided it should be held by an elected MNA. What about the runners up in the presidential election? He was technically locked out. He was to effect his opposition duties through the minority leader and not him personally. After President Uhuru Kenyatta lost to Kibaki back in 2002 , he gracefully joined the opposition benches as an official opposition leader. His office was being funded by the exchequer. He had a kitty to appoint his own shadow cabinet. The BBI document that was rejected wanted to re-introduce back the office of official opposition leader who was to be an ex-officio member of both Senate and National Assembly.
What Kenyans should understand is , a Goverment without opposition party is dangerous for their well being. The most irritating thing is that , opposition is Kenya instead of being embraced with love by Kenyans , it is demonized. When you are in opposition , you are labelled as a social and political misfit. That's the most dangerous thing for a Country which brag of being democratic. It is sad!!! If the opposition and the government goes to bed with one another , expect a wail from citizens. Who will be checking that goverment. Both the people who voted and those who didn't vote for it suffer the same. They cry the same. That's the most painful truth. Whether you dispute it or not , you can borrow a leaf from the government where , itself and the opposition are reading from the same script. You may choose to ignore what an saying here but that's the painful truth. You lack a strong opposition , even those promises the sitting Government made to you will be just a pipe dream. They won't be tenable. They will be ignored successfully. Be vigilant. Don't rejoice when the opposition is being weakened. Instead of rejoicing , you should be sobbing. FACT!!!!
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