Amendments betray spirit of Constitution

For how much longer will the Judiciary and Executive stand aside and watch as Parliament — working under the motto “For the just (sic) government of men” — mutilates the promise that President Kibaki promulgated on August 10, 2010?

Has the thirst for power so blinded the men and women in the august House that they no longer see the forest for the trees?  Is it that because they believe the new Constitution can no longer serve their interests, they now wish to render it irrelevant?

Do the latest developments indicate that indeed the Executive, as personified by President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga are part of the problem?

Frightening spirit

The Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Bill 2012 appears to be the product of mischief that emanates from the office of the chief legal advisor to the Grand Coalition Government.

In the process of its drafting, all manner of sundry items that are purely self-serving have been introduced, some of them touching on the Constitution.

And this is where it gets frightening because while statute amendments can be passed by a simple majority of MPs, amendments that touch on the Constitution need Parliament to muster a two-thirds majority to pass.

That is the law, but there is a new and rebellious spirit among MPs who see their term coming to an end, and who, because they are not sure of their political future, want to change various laws to ensure they can, at the very least, be nominated to either the Senate or Parliament.

Is the chief legal advisor to the Government operating on a brief from the Executive as regards amendments to laws?

Has he abandoned the independent thinking expected of his office and opted to follow in his predecessor’s shoes? If he has opted to appease the ego of the Executive, then he should remember the famous quote: “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile — hoping it will eat him last.”

The role of Parliament in making laws does not, by any means, give MPs the right to subvert the authority granted them by voters to protect and defend the Constitution of Kenya.

The oath of office that they retook following the promulgation of the new Constitution bound them to ensure its spirit is never sullied, but what is happening now can only be described as a total betrayal of this grand oath.