In the run-up to the 2010 referendum that led to the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution, Deputy President William Ruto was one of the people who opposed its adoption, citing grey areas that called for amendments. Conversely, opposition leader Raila Odinga acknowledged that the Draft Constitution was 70 per cent okay while stressing the need to adopt it and carry out amendments later.
Today, the Deputy President is vehemently opposed to any proposals to amend the document that he was once opposed to. Calls for amendment have elicited scorn, but it would seem like the threat of a referendum has finally awoken the government from its stupor, judging from the reactions of the Government and its loyalist troops. They have taken it upon themselves to pour cold water on issues raised by the Opposition.
Referendums are provided for in the Constitution and if Cord goes about it within the confines of the law, the Government need not revert to the application of unorthodox and oppressive laws that the new Constitution did away with. Opposition leaders have claimed there are Government plans to arrest them on trumped-up charges.
These are very serious allegations against a Government that professes democracy and inclusiveness.
The veracity of those claims will have to be ascertained soon. There is the risk that a Government that looks disorganised has given rise to an Opposition that looks for any opportunity to embarrass it. The danger is that the Opposition has resorted to playing to the gallery by making all sorts of claims.
Strategists within Jubilee have taken the wrong approach in countering the Opposition’s resurgence. Trailing Cord to undo their gains in some areas is hardly the prudent thing to do. The Government’s job is to ensure that the Opposition remains irrelevant as it carries out its development agenda and ensure that it stays on course.
Yet events of the recent past have only succeeded in exposing those in authority as having no agenda for the country other than bashing the opposition. While the Government blames the Opposition for keeping the country in a perpetual campaign mode, it goes ahead to do the same thing. The President and his deputy are in Mombasa apparently to undo what the opposition did last week. That is not the way to run a Government.
Plans by the President’s political advisers to make him more visible by personally appearing on sites and launching development projects are good, but look feeble at countering an oppositon that seemed re-energised to see off the Government at the next elections in 2017.
Because as it is, that cannot by itself build public confidence and appeal to Kenyans. To win the hearts and minds of citizens, the Government must ensure the people can afford food, education and other basic needs of life like feeling safe enough to go about their daily chores.
The opposition should keep Government in check and desist from plunging the country into a state of politicking that has proved over the years to be counter-productive.
It is within their right to call for a referendum on the Constitution. What they should not do is create unnecessary panic.
The Government should on the other hand facilitate the referendum because it is a constitutional right. They should by all means avoid the politics of attrition that holds back the country.
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