President’s address missed out on key issues

The Constitution under Article 132 requires that once a year, the President presents a report on all the measures taken and the progress achieved in the realisation of the national values referred to in Article 10 of the Constitution.

Article 10 lists, with specificity, the national values as Patriotism, National Unity, Sharing and Devolution of Power, the Rule of Law, Democracy and Participation of the People; Human Dignity, Equity, Social Justice, Inclusiveness, Equality, Human Rights, Non-Discrimination and Protection of the Marginalised; Good Governance, Integrity, Transparency and Accountability and Sustainable development.

It is regrettable that this highly important constitutional event has been turned into a laissez faire political speech used by the Head of State to score points. The very beginning of his speech this year was misleading. The President’s assertion that our nation is strong and that the nationalist covenant, negotiated by our Founding Fathers at Independence is alive and well, are mistaken.

After drawing a so-called red line on corruption last year, the President could only complain about the need for courts to be more stringent and efficient. As per plan, not a single big fish has been thrown in jail or public money recovered. You can only engage in empty rhetoric for so long. It is after all impossible to fool all the people all the time.

It is worth remembering that last year, MPs from both sides of the house stood up to applaud the President when he gave a supposed roadmap on how he was going to tackle corruption. Only last week the government announced termination of the fanciful Greenfield Terminal Project at JKIA, which Uhuru oversaw groundbreaking amid pomp; the administration was waxing lyrical about airstrips in Homa bay.

To prevent the government from using what should be an honest evaluation report to Kenyans as a forum to play tricks on us, CORD MP’s legitimately sought to express the anguished grievance that many Kenyans feel but are unable to express directly to the man at State House. The high pitched whistles were a true reflection of the seething anger which many of us feel at being told that all is well and that we could not be doing any better. The Presidential address to Parliament has been reduced to a ritual with no substance, for many, the only substance this time round was the whistling.

Upon learning of the benevolent intentions of CORD to protest during the address, the Jubilee jesters outfit was as usual in high gear. Majority Leader Adan Duale challenged CORD to come up with its own proposals instead of disrupting or boycotting parliamentary proceedings. The man may not be aware but the opposition has already proposed actually fighting corruption as a giant leap ahead. As it would come to pass, dissenting lawmakers would not be cowed and rightfully interrupted the President’s empty words dressed up as a State of the Nation address.

The reason the Head of State won’t be allowed to address the actual issues as enumerated in the Constitution by his handlers is simple. Such a speech, if honestly written, would only serve as an indictment of his administration, for it is his government that has undermined our national unity, led in assailing the rule of law, stifled the media and civil society — both pillars of any true democracy — entrenched bad governance and set us up for bankruptcy with fanciful resource guzzling projects like laptops and the Standard Gauge Railway. This is unfortunate