Former PM Raila Odinga allies plot to ‘tame presidency’

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

By JUMA KWAYERA

The Coalition for Reform and Democracy is working on a plan to force President Uhuru Kenyatta to regularly appear in Parliament and answer questions from members.

While ODM party officials are calling this an “enhancement of the presidential system of government”, it is certain to be seen by the Jubilee side as an attempt to cut Uhuru to size.

The plan may alternatively see the creation of a Prime Minister’s office in the Jubilee government. CORD recently postponed a push to have the Head of State elected indirectly in a parliamentary system.

This would have increased Parliament’s powers over the presidency. Instead, they now suggest shifting some of the powers held by two House officials back to the president. CORD officials say this will make the president more accountable to the electorate by preventing him from delegating issues to parliamentary officials.

ODM executive director Joseph Magerer told The Standard On Saturday his party had noted a tendency by the Executive to ‘hide’ behind two officials.

“When (Leader of Majority in National Assembly Adan) Duale and (Leader of Majority in the Senate Kithure) Kindiki make statements, they are not authoritative,” Magerer says. “We want the presidency to be more accountable and not delegate things to people who lack executive powers. We have seen the leaders of majority… read statements (in Parliament) for which the President does not take responsibility.”

Duale and Kindiki hold offices that have broader powers under the constitution, taking on some of the roles previously played by the Leader of Government Business (previously the Vice-President). On a few occasions, Duale has come under fire for allegedly misleading the country on sensitive national issues. One such occasion was during the diplomatic stand-off between Kenya and Nigeria over the deportation of suspected narcotics trafficker Anthony Chinedu. Duale also earned the wrath of both Houses for “incompetent” statements on insecurity in the country. Duale’s statements, Magerer points out, are not necessarily those of the government.

 

Electoral college

CORD leaders had earlier made calls for a referendum on the system of government, saying the “tyranny of numbers” that put their rivals Jubilee in power could be limited by having parliamentarians and governors pick the president. As described by Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama, this parliamentary system would see an electoral college of 431 elected officers vote to select the president.This unpopular plan was quickly put on hold “to give governors and senators time to prosecute their case for enhanced funding of county governments” in a referendum.

Muthama says the question of the parliamentary system will be revisited. “We are not retreating on our quest to change the system of government,” he says. “We want to separate the two issues so that we deal with one at time.”

There are suspicions CORD’s push for the delegates’ system was a poison pill meant to break up the united front between opposition and Jubilee county leaders. Senators and governors from across the political divide want the funds increased to 40 per cent of the national budget. While CORD has positioned itself as leading the fight for devolution, the Jubilee government’s decision to give a third of national revenue to the counties (up from the 15 per cent required by law) took the thunder away from the opposition. The bipartisan approach by county leaders also threatened to deny CORD a distinct voice in the issue. But with the skunk of the ‘electoral college’ let loose, Jubilee governors from TNA were forced to stampede out of the referendum movement.

The push to compel the President to respond to questions on the floor of the House is likely to stoke a new battle between Jubilee and CORD, which are currently engaged in a vicious battle for supremacy in the House. Some MPs say if the President cannot attend Parliament, a Prime Minister’s position should be created with the task of representing the Executive in the House.

Minority Leader in National Assembly Jakoyo Midiwo, while admitting he does not understand the concept of an “enhanced presidential system”, says he backs any plans to re-engineer the presidency to make it more accountable. He says that an improved version of Grand Coalition would serve the country better as the presence of the government in Parliament was in the form of a prime minister. “What we had in the National Accord (that created the Grand Coalition) was better,” says Midiwo. “It ensured power was shared.”

The Gem MP also faulted the constitutional requirement requiring appointment of ministers from outside Parliament, which he argues is duplication of roles.

“When the Cabinet was picked from among MPs, ministers were paid a token responsibility of allowance,” he argues. “They were also accountable to the House. We are now hiring two people to do the same thing. For the period Parliament has been sitting, I do not feel I have done enough to justify my pay. In addition, the Executive does not bother about what goes on in the House.”

Grey areas

Early this week, Deputy President William Ruto convened a meeting with senators and MPs allied to Jubilee on the referendum row. Jubilee leaders have since abandoned the push for a referendum on devolution alleging it has been hijacked by CORD.

Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale (Amani/UDF) says a referendum on devolution could fix grey areas in the Constitution which he claims Jubilee has taken advantage of to frustrate the transfer of resources to county governments. Dr Khalwale says the governance debate sparked by CORD should be distinct from that on devolution.

“We should avoid mixing issues,” he says. ”There are grey areas regarding the role of the Senate that are being exploited by those in power who do not want devolution to succeed. Governance should come as a standalone issue. Some people (read Raila Odinga) want to ride on the popularity devolution to address totally different matters.”

CORD says it has not renounced its position and is still on course to putting the matter to the electorate. During ODM’s National Executive Council meeting on Tuesday, a decision was taken to give the public time to discuss it. The enhanced presidential system, meanwhile, is expected to feature again during ODM’s National Governing Council meeting that has been rescheduled for September 27 or October 4 this year.

“Reaction from various quarters and our own party was not in favour of carrying out a referendum on two questions at the same,” says Mr Magerer. “It was going create confusion and that had given the government (more) ammunition.”