Brighter days ahead after outgoing MPs set tone for progress

Give the devil his due. The Tenth Parliament, in spite of all the smudges and failures, acquitted itself very well indeed.

Quite a number of positives come to mind as we release a scorecard of their deliberations. Top on this list is that they delivered a new Constitution that many freedom icons and patriots lost their limbs and lives over. With the advent of devolved governance, a four-decade long clamour for a fair, just and equitable system was midwifed by these outgoing MPs.

As they head home, some into retirement, others to campaign for re-election and yet others seeking a different challenge, they can hold their heads high as having overseen a peaceful transition and a national peace and reconciliation initiative.

Indeed, going by various pronouncements in public and in private conversations, Kenyans might not be so easily swayed to turn on their neighbour this election time. The avoidable loss of life in 2008, billions of shillings in property destruction and infrastructure defacement are red lines in the sand right-thinking Kenyans will shrink away from.

These MPs rightly claim to have made history by passing passed more than 180 Bills. They ushered in laws that entrench transparency, ensure that merit is not just another word in the dictionary, paved the way for overhaul of the Judiciary, made a mockery of the electoral law but also ensured their successors must operate within certain legal strictures.

The outgoing legislators also raised the public’s hackles with their obsession with self, right up to their last day in office, but that has been extensively written about, debated in the courts of public opinion and eventually thrown out by the President. Their obsession with robbing the gravy train was unprecedented and almost obscene. The less said the better!

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What is the way forward?

Shackles of poverty

First, the 11th Parliament must draw lessons from the failures, build on successes of their predecessors and avoid the errors of omission and commission. The next government must apply brakes on sleaze and conspicuous consumption since the counties shall need every available shilling to pull themselves from debt and shackles of poverty.

There should be structures to monitor spending, cut out unnecessary foreign trips, rein-in spending on ostentation such as motorcades and fuel guzzling road monsters. In the absence of the much-acclaimed CDF, expenditure should be channeled to building value-adding facilities, infrastructure and incentives to spur agricultural activity, manufacturing, trade and export-oriented enterprise.

The mantra for all incoming governors, senators, women, county, and youth representatives should be Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!

The pool of unemployed youth can be harnessed to startling good fortune. But above all else, the rule of law and implementing the letter and spirit of the Constitution shall be the marker between rip-roaring success and collapse of the lofty ideals of Vision 2030. The choice is crystal clear.