Debate: Much ado over nothing

Our leaders must desist from taking each opportunity that crops up to politicise the constitutional implementation process and instead engage in constructive discourse and consultations.

The recent uproar over the appointment of 47 county commissioners by President Kibaki will only act to slow the process of implementing the Constitution in the given timelines.

Instead of engaging the public in cheap rhetoric that seeks to discredit the President’s move, leaders should instead ask themselves key questions that would shed more light into what led to the appointments. Key among these questions should be: What are the professional qualifications and requirements for such an appointment? What would happen should the country enter the new political dispensation with uncertainties over the provincial administration? Would the interests of the national government be well represented at the counties without these commissioners?

Answers to these questions would shed more light and have our leaders make more informed political statements on this issue and others that touch on the implementation of the Constitution.

Kenyans have yearned for the switch to the devolved system of government since the adoption of the Constitution in 2010. The last thing they want to witness are attempts to slow down its implementation.

{Peter Mshefa, Kilifi}

The uproar over recent appointment of 47 county commissioners by the President is undue and unnecessary.

The appointment of these commissioners comes at a crucial time that the country is grappling with the uncertainty of the future of the provincial administration and the possibilities of there being a vacuum in this regard.

The appointments are, therefore, a welcome move by the President in a bid to ensure a smooth transition to the devolved system of government.

Some of the arguments being put across from various political quarters cannot get more impotent. That the Prime Minister was not consulted on the appointments and therefore he disowns the list, that the appointments were made to favour certain tribes, or that the appointments do not represent gender equity are all unfounded arguments that are well orchestrated to discredit President Kibaki’s decision.

The real issues should be whether the Constitution was contravened, or whether or not the President acted in the best interest of the country. The uproar is invalid and a recipe for political chaos.

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