President’s address told half the story

By Apollo Mboya

Kenya: President Uhuru Kenyatta was called to duty on Thursday 27th March to deliver the State of the Nation address in a special joint session of Parliament where, he is required by Article 132 of the Constitution to update the country, once a year, the progress made in realisation of national values and principles of governance, the country’s international obligations and national security.

Indeed, how are we fairing as a people? Is our situation bad, good, hopeful, hopeless, promising?

The real situation

The President had to articulate these things. If our situation is ‘dire’, ‘pathetic’ or ‘hopeless’, he had the task of telling the nation what he and his administration are doing to improve the situation, if at all.

If it is ‘good’, he needed to give us evidence. Now I have had a whole week to look back at what this first State of the Nation address ought to have been.

 On the security front, he needed to tell us why the places of worship and shopping malls which were safe yesterday, are now one of the most dangerous places.

The nation did not hear why the public is being attacked, killed and robbed in their homes and streets. I

 also expected the President to take a stand on the happenings between the Inspector General of Police and the National Police Service Commission, which has not only affected operational issues, but diverted the attention of the police from tackling insecurity within the country.

I wanted to hear why he has allowed the enforcer of the law to disregard of the same law.

On our roads, I expected to know why the police have refused to enforce traffic laws leading to over 3,000 fatalities in a single year with thousands injured and maimed.

I also needed to understand why the President has not published the names of the 25 of my colleagues who have been proposed for appointment as Judges of the High Court yet the public continue to suffer due to capacity challenges in the Judiciary.

Broken the law?

I also expected the President to inform the nation why in complete disregard of the law, he has refused to perform the necessary duty of replacing his appointee in the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and publishing the appointment of members of the JSC.

The Kenya Magistrates and Judges Association (KMJA) and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) conducted elections for the vacant positions in November 2013 and February 2014 in which Hon Justice Aggrey Muchelule and Prof Tom Ojienda were duly elected.

Section 15(2)(a) of the Judicial Service Act, 2011 stipulates that the respective nominating body, in this case the KMJA and LSK, shall submit the name of its nominee to the President who shall, within three (3) days of receipt of the names, appoint the nominee as members of the JSC.

I needed to understand why the Minister for Lands and the National Land Commission (NLC) has brought transactions on land to a standstill.

The question I needed to be answered is why the provision of services to the public and investors suffer just because there is a standoff between the Minister and the NLC?

Is it that they are not aware of article 40 of the Constitution of the Great Republic of Kenya which state that very person has the right, either individually or in association with others, to acquire and own property of any description in any part of Kenya?

Superiority wars

On the rule of law, I eagerly waited for the President to tell the nation why both in the Executive and Legislative arm of the Government disregard court orders from the Judiciary arm. Is it because Judiciary is the shorter arm?

On food security, I expected answers as to why my brothers and sisters in some parts of the country are perishing because of famine yet in the same region, we have been informed that in addition to the precious oil, there is an underground lake capable of watering the whole country for 50 years. Why are we doing irrigation in Galana Kulalu Scheme at the Coast instead of extracting the underground lake to irrigate Turkana region where the situation is dire.

Then there is the promise made to the children that they would be supplied with laptops in Standard One.

What is the explanation to be given to the same children why they did not get the laptops? Should they expect the laptops in Standard Three? Some explanation would have been in order.

So, you see, it is never easy to be a President, especially in a country where hope is dwindling, unemployment is rising and spiraling insecurity both from within and from external elements, avoidable deaths by road accidents and where various arms of the Government are fighting each other.

If the President thought the State of the Nation is hopeful and promising he needed to drill into me why he thinks that is the case. I did not get the feeling that the country was in a good trajectory.

The writer is Secretary/CEO of the Law Society of Kenya

mboya@lsk.or.ke