Draft a blessing as welcome as rain

By Kipkoech Tanui

Long ago, for the shirtless boys playing on anthills while looking after livestock, the most refreshing thing would be when the first droplets of rain fell after dry spell. The ecstasy in the village would be palpable. Everything would come to life and even the livestock would stand out in rain, chewing cud.

But something else happens as the first drops hit the ground, sending dust skyward: The unmistakable aroma of dry soil and water hits the nose. It is a unique scent only known to ‘ruralites’. It has a certain freshness. It comes with a sigh of relief to the people, is reassuring they have not been forsaken by their God or gods.

Boys run around, bare-chested, to welcome rain. The cattle too, especially the calves, gambol around in circles snorting, their tails raised high.

After a few days, grass sprouts from what was a bowl of dust. It grows fast and the green effect is dramatic. Even at night, the howl of hyenas and foxes trebles as crickets sing, frogs croak and dragonflies and fireflies decorate the darkness. Flying termites we end up eating soar out of the earth. In every way, life changes.

The old people say a silent prayer for the good rains, while spitting out blessings to the four corners of the wind. The Church people offer thanks.

Good people, the publication of the Harmonised Draft Constitution has transported me to this past. I saw Kenya welcoming a different type of rain, something that has enamoured all. For half of my life, all around me has been clamour for a new constitution. I cannot believe we are this close. My nose can pick up the scent of the dampening soil moving skyward. I know just as short rains can be deluding, stopping suddenly, this, too, can be yet another ‘short’ rain that leaves us worse off. When I look at probability of what our politicians might do, I doubt they will kill it but amend they just might.

Why? First, because, the mood in the country is ripe for reforms. Secondly, wrongly and rightly, a majority of Kenyans blame governance problems — including high-level corruption, impunity and tribalism — on weak institutions such as the offices of Attorney General, Chief Justice and Police Commissioner.

Cage for a demi-god

These are all presidential appointees, albeit indirectly for the CJ, and are susceptible to manipulation by the presidency, which they forever thank for their appointment letters and the KBC news bulletin. Just look at how, on December 30, 2007, they all raced against the sunset to swear in President Kibaki, setting off fireballs of death and destruction across the country.

The reason we have killed each other for the presidency has been because that is the only office that promises to satisfy the greed in all of us. It is the cage we keep our demi-god in and say he is above the law, and even imagining impeaching him is treasonable. That there is a proposal to share out those awesome powers — of dishing out districts, public appointments, frustrating the war against corruption by a chosen few, rewarding tribal cabals and presiding over systematic vote-rigging through personalisation of the Electoral Commission — with Prime Minister’s office, Parliament and Cabinet is a welcome gate-keeping process.

Secondly, there is attempt to make the Head of Government, in this case the PM, answerable to Parliament. The whole House then, can remove the PM on a simple majority. If he or she goes home, so goes the Cabinet.

Our problems have a lot to do with unwritten presidential decrees, mostly what is whispered in the corridors of State House. In draft law, the President will be required to put his decisions in writing, then sign them. The appointments he or she and the PM make have to be vetted and approved by Parliament. In addition, he or she cannot appoint without agreement with the PM.

I am also thrilled by the proposal there shall be a Deputy President who must have been the running mate of the winning presidential candidate. In case of a re-run, the top two presidential candidates will have to stick to their running mates.

If the President dies halfway through his or her term, there will be no need for a fresh election, the Deputy President will assume the reins of power.

There shall be no abuse of the presidential power to name election dates at will and use them as a secret weapon — unleashed when the chances of his or her party are high. Also set to go is the President’s power to prorogue Parliament and the vagueness of when to swear in the incoming president. The National Assembly will now operate with its own calendar and won’t have to watch its back in seasons of heady debate just in case the president swings a sledgehammer.

It would also no longer be possible for the President, unless he or she steals or uses private resources, to placate friends with public land, beach plots or State jobs. Not even the PM can do this. There is also the recall clause for MPs who go to the House to sleep, raise salary and cut deals, enhanced freedom of the media, defined pecking order and succession line at the top, as well as two levels of devolved government for mwananchi.

Suffocating organ

The Judiciary as it is today will be hit by a typhoon for which many of us will applaud while the suffocating organ called Provincial Administration will go.

Yes, I have only one fear, dictatorship of Parliament, but even that I can risk living with when I reflect on life under a President surrounded by many unofficial political scoundrels whose word is law. We could go on but for want of space let us end with one more thing — there is no President Kibaki or Prime Minister Raila Odinga in the draft. It is not about individuals but us, survival of the nation and posterity.

The writer is The Standard’s Managing Editor, Daily Editions.

ktanui@standardmedia.co.ke

 

 

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