Executive undermining the Constitution at every turn

This week marked five years since promulgation of the Constitution. At birth it was hailed as a forward looking law and we genuinely believed we had crossed the Rubicon and were destined for the proverbial Promised Land. A land where the rule of law would be supreme, human rights would be more than platitudes, the corrupt would face the music, and we would have control over our immediate destinies by dint of the devolved governments.

Alas! Half a decade later, this is far from the case. I always believed the main criteria during the 2013 election would be an examination of who was best placed to midwife the country into the new dispensation. In true Kenyan fashion we went and made the ICC the core issue and elected people who never believed in the Constitution and in fact had actively campaigned against it. We are therefore generally responsible for the death of the dream of August 27, 2010.

While the current government is good at making all the right noises and conjuring an impression of progress, in reality this is almost never the case. By sleight of hand and connivance, it has sought to engage reverse gear even as it claims to be eager to implement the Constitution. Examples of such instances are plenty.

We all remember the Kasarani concentration camp commissioned to ‘process’ certain Kenyans who had been profiled and stereotyped. So much for that robust Bill of Rights. As for upholding the Constitution and the rule of law, the President has led the way in assailing it. For example, when he was presented with a list of Judges for appointment, he chose to engage in extralegal vetting of the list.

Tragically, our understaffed Judiciary had to wait for nearly a year as the President engaged in vetting that the Constitution had clearly taken out of his hands. There are at least a couple court orders he chose to ignore. President Uhuru’s government has actively sought to muzzle both the civil society and the media. Instead of promoting the freedom of expression, the government has instead arrested bloggers and in time honoured fashion transported them in the dark of night to caged confinement. While anti-government bloggers are being molested, those that wax lyrical defending the regime are free to engage in hate speech in the guise of political analysis.

Only the naive can believe that the reason no media house would broadcast live from Uhuru Park during the Saba Saba rally last year was logistical. It was in a word blackmail. Even now a Bill to gag the media is being pushed through Parliament where the tyranny of numbers will surely see it into law.

As for our false expectations that the new Constitution would enable the relevant organs deal a death blow to corruption, these have been viciously discounted. Apparently, in the hands of a Jubilee government the current Constitution is a more versatile enabler of old style smash and grab graft. While we have heard of many corruption scandals (and there are many more we never hear about) we know that not a single man or woman is in jail because of them. The only music the corrupt are facing is that yes-men choir that sings in tune every time corruption within government is unearthed.

While much has been said and written about the President’s personal integrity, in the end, if he continues to shield high priests and priestesses of graft, he too vicariously takes part in the gravy train.

As for devolution, it has remained our beacon of hope even in the face of open sabotage by the national government. Two and a half years of Jubilee has seen our Constitution limping. In another five years it will be well and truly neutered.