Religious leaders want fewer MPs in changes to cut costs

Religious leaders from almost all faiths have proposed a raft of radical reforms, among them abolition of provincial administration and introduction of the Prime Minister position as a way out of Kenya’s problems.

The group is further proposing the reduction of the number of MPs and curbing of government borrowing to rescue the country from being mortgaged by international creditors. 

A statement released by the group calling itself Dialogue Reference Group (Ufungamano II) asks the government to initiate constitutional reforms to provide for a new system of governance that includes the President, Deputy President, Prime Minister and two Deputy Prime Ministers.

Official Opposition

The statement was signed by Martin Kivuva (Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops), Timothy Ndambuki (National Council of Churches of Kenya), Alhajj Yusuf Munyu (National Muslim Leaders Forum) and Bishop Peter Njao (Evangelical Alliance of Kenya).

Others were Sujatha Kotam Naju (Hindu Council of Kenya), Paul Chepkwony (Seventh Day Adventist), Yusuf Nzibo (Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims), Joseph Mutie (Organisation of Africa Instituted Churches) and Abdala Nafula (Shia Ithnashari Muslim Association).

In their proposed system, the presidency is not overbearing and is accountable to Parliament through the Prime Minister appearing before the National Assembly while Cabinet Secretaries appear before committees of Parliament.

They have however not provided a roadmap for picking the occupant for the office of the Prime Minister and it is unclear whether thy want him to be elected by the people during elections.

The group also want a dignified office of the Opposition by enabling the runners up in the presidential election to serve as the leader of Official Opposition in the National Assembly while the running mate becomes the leader of Official Opposition in the Senate. In their list of demands, the clergy called for an independent forensic audit of the national debts undertaken to establish who is owed, how much they are owed, the terms of the debts, purposes for which the money was borrowed, and if the debts were actually invested for the purposes they were intended.

In what they call the Economic Recovery and Accelerated Service Delivery chapter, the clerics insist that the government must immediately stop borrowing for infrastructure projects.

“In particular, the proposed expansion of the Nairobi-Mombasa highway should be suspended since the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) was intended to decongest the current highway,” reads the statement.

The team called on the government to immediately suspend the extension of Naivasha-Malaba SGR since “the country is broke and cannot even feed its own people.”

Kenya must avoid recolonisation through debt as has been witnessed in other countries, they said. “Focus should be put on increasing the usage of the SGR to make it worth the colossal investment made to build it,” they added.

They are also calling for corruption to be declared a national disaster to make efforts to eradicate it is a national commitment and not an engagement undertaken at the discretion of the President.

The group warned that if Parliament does not commence the process of auditing debts within six months or if the exercise is not undertaken fully and satisfactorily, the Dialogue Reference Group will set up a People’s National Debt AuditTask Force to undertake the assignment.

The group said this was the first three of the National Dialogue Conference (NDC 1) meeting convened by the Dialogue Reference Group (DRG) at Ufungamano House.

It was attended by 600 delegates from across the nation who included religious leaders, women, youth and persons with disabilities, leaders and representatives from the civil society, business community and trade unions.

Perennial conflicts

The objective of the NDC 1, they said, was to initiate an inclusive dialogue process to effectively address the political and governance crisis in Kenya.

They said in their continuous assessment of the state of the nation, the Dialogue Reference Group had found that virtually all government, social, public and private institutions in Kenya suffer a ‘legitimacy crisis’. They said the merger of political parties to oust Kanu in 2002, formation of a coalition government in 2008, the promulgation a new Constitution in 2010, and the recent handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga did not resolve the underlying causes of conflict.

The handshake, they noted, had produced a calmness in the nation that portends a golden opportunity for the country to find solutions to the perennial conflicts that emerge at every election.

“It is in this context that we have initiated this national dialogue process so that Kenyans have a chance to build consensus on a pathway to national cohesion, equality and justice as is envisaged by the Constitution of Kenya 2010,” said the statement.

The Ufungamano Group called for the repealing of the National Government Coordination Act to scrap the Provincial Administration.

Not spared is the National Assembly, with the group calling for not only the reduction in the number of MPs but also an amendment to remove the legislators from the management of the Constituency Development Fund.

In the radical proposals, the clerics insists that the number of MPs be reduced to 209, comprising of 150 constituencies representatives, 47 Women Representatives, and 12 special members.

In the counties, the group calls for the creation of position of Leader of Official Opposition to be held by the runners up in the gubernatorial polls with adequate resources to oversight the county governments.

To make it effective, the Ufungamano Group is recommending that an audit of devolution should be undertaken immediately to establish the status of its implementation. They called on Parliament to pass a Sessional Paper to effect this within one year.

“The Presidency should, within three months, present to Parliament a comprehensive statement on the Northern Rangelands Trust, to respond to the concerns that major land and natural reserves have been annexed in Northern Kenya for foreigners,” the statement also noted.

There should be developed a corruption tackling strategy that draws a line between old corruption and new corruption, the group asked.

“Old corruption should be addressed through a mechanism for voluntary surrender of assets corruptly taken from the state and disclosure of co-conspirators, in return for amnesty from prosecution,” reads their statement.   

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