A national constitution-or any constitution for that matter-is not meant to be a static contract but a dynamic one that evolves with time and circumstances. The only hustle is that to effect evolution to constitutions, all the parties, or the majority, must concur with the changes-and herein lies the hard task; lobbying and persuading this majority to agree. In our situation as Kenyans, there is the added trick that once a suitable population is persuaded to go along with constitutional amendments, the legislators have to come in and deliberate on them. Our legislators have made a mark and proven time and again on how they go about deliberations on national issues. Issues that do not touch on their personal finances.
The current clamor to amend the constitution as it now stands, spearheaded by the CORD politicians may be misinterpreted by the opposing side but it may have in itself, good merit. It is a statement that our constitution is not rigid. It may be ill-timed (and I stand to be corrected) but it most certainly has merit. I, for one felt that the clause(s) that touch on methods and timing to recall sitting legislators either in County, Senate or National assemblies should be amended. This was even before the politicians had displayed their insensitivity to Kenyans' feelings in the houses. Before they treated us to the drama of selfish maneuvers to enrich themselves and to position themselves in their perceived order of power, all while the ordinary citizen was crawling under the burdens of abject poverty and insecurity. I felt pinched enough to call for an amendment before giving the constitution time to prove itself fit or unfit to guarantee good governance.
The CORD politicians may be rushing the gun to call for their referendum and/or amendment-especially when their targeted clauses are those that deal with power and positions of power, the sound-bytes being emphasised too give a strong message of 'former powerful, now stripped of power', 'fearing political oblivion'.Theirs may be interpreted to be 'seeking a short cut to power', seeking to 'get back to power by back-door', scheming to 'keep the government side-tracked and distracted' so that they can accuse the said government of non-performance. The gridlock that manifested in the early days of the 11th parliament was truly saddening to the sober observer. The only issue the legislators were able to compromise-actually to agree on-was their salaries and allowances! It is my honest submission that anything should be tried before being rejected, and going by my earlier stated feeling of frustration with the recall clause, I would be inclined to sympathize and empathize with those calling for amending the constitution. My only prayer is that we approach this with sobriety and clear minds, the same way we went about the initial referendum culminating in the constitutional writing. Let us not loose sight of the fact that some opponents of this constitution finally ended up supporting it and are now deemed as benefitting unfairly. Some proponents lost in the last election and are now smarting from the apparent rejection by the electorate. None of this is static, our politics is highly fluid and the dynamics may change radically before the next polls. At this time we may not know who (or what) will generate the next euphoria.
Could we as a nation cultivate the ideals of entrenching constitutional structures and the general respect of the law? So much of our energies is wasted on personality cults, personal vendetta, parochial scrambling and activism that at the end of the day, the sum total of our struggles is who ate how much and how could we eat more than them the next time. We are now accusing the government of reneging on devolution yet we know very well that devolution is demanded by the constitution and so the law enforces it, but because shouting that the government is unfaithful scores more political points we chose it instead of preparing the legal way to push it or simply giving it time to see what they are planning. Some of the counties have not come up with credible budgets to warrant funds disbursal. Why do we want tax payers' money poured into bottomless pits without accountability? These counties without funds may be serviced by the central government until they are accountable enough to take care of their own business-No services ought to be denied of the people just because their county governments are limping. Could we as a nation disengage the gear of campaigns and engage that of nation-building. Our national heritage is still being plundered by crooks- animals killed by poachers, scrap-metal dealers cannibalising any structures put up , our law enforcement officers are still being hunted down by thugs, our sick still unattended in the hospitals and at home unable to go to hospital, we still have thousands in IDP camps and others in informal settlements, our youth still unemployed are still over-indulging in illicit liquor and drugs. We need to hit the pause button in our politics and pay more attention on more pressing issues of the day.
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