Scrap the Senate and create a lean but more powerful National Assembly

Since the promulgation of the new constitution in August 2010, Senators have consistently called for constitutional amendments that give life and meaning to the Senate. Surprisingly, when the Harmonised Draft Constitution was finally presented to Kenyans to comment upon, an overwhelming majority of voters focused their minds on the structure of the National Executive.

They debated, and fought, over whether the National Executive should be presidential or parliamentary. The structure of Parliament did not even feature in the top ten concerns of the electorate.

It did not receive the attention that was received by the Abortion Question, the Two-thirds Rule, the Land Question or Devolution. There were flaws, for sure, in the Harmonised Draft; Kenyans chose to ignore them in pursuit of narrow points-scoring. I do not believe and/or support those of the idea that the Senate needs to be "strengthened" or its role in the government of Kenya "clarified." The Senate is not the Upper House that Senators believe it is. It was not conceived as such.

It is the institution whose principle duty is to ‘protect devolution’. They have done a piss-poor job of protecting devolution because the Majority and Minority Leaders in the Senate are both very, busy playing handmaiden to political colossi in the form of Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga, respectively.

The irony here is that those Senators crying that they have been neutered and must be strengthened are the self-same MPs in past life of parliament who during the constitution-making process conspired to water down the powers and functions of the Senate.

Prof. Kithure Kindiki may be a respected and accomplished lawyer; he is completely useless in the political arena. Indeed, Moses Wetangula is a not only an accomplished lawyer, he is also an accomplished politician but in the Senate, he is completely wasted. What the two have managed to do over the past two years is to demonstrate as starkly as possible that the Senate is a chamber of no use and should be scrapped.

Rather than plan for the inevitable, they have gone looking for new powers to exercise and new functions to perform. They have done everything they could other than what they should. They have given scant attention to the devolution process and allowed it to be hijacked by the National Executive, the public service, sundry irrelevant commissions and authorities, and political players out in the cold with idle hands ready for the Devil's work.

And instead of refocusing their attention on their jobs, they have picked fights with the National Assembly and the National Executive, receiving the hiding they richly deserve at every turn and very soon the Supreme Court or through a national referendum will disappoint them too.

Why they believed they could style themselves as American Senators without the ‘power’ to do so beggars belief. A cursory comparison of the US Constitution and the Kenya Constitution would have clearly shown that the two chambers are as similar as chalk and cheese but not the case.

The US senate enjoys great power; the Kenyan one does not. The Kenyan one is the equivalent of a glorified debating society which will only be roused when it is time to take part in the budget-making process.

Kenyans choose bicameral system, but no one considered the true reason for having a bicameral parliament. Part of the reason why US’s Founding Fathers wanted a bicameral system with the positive vote of both required to pass legislation, was a natural extension of the concept of employing "checks and balances" to prevent tyranny.

Those conversant with US debates in the House of Representatives will tell you that many a time they pass a Bill within a day. The Senate takes weeks deliberating on the same Bill.

The US Founding Fathers did not intend that the House and Senate should be carbon-copies of each other. The inbuilt differences ensure that all legislation would be carefully considered, ‘taking both the short and long-term effects into account.’

Hence, if there are amendments to be considered regarding our Senate, of which Okoa Kenya referendum Bill must have forgotten to incorporate, the only sensible one is how to scrap Senate and transfer its functions to the National Assembly.

Kenyans should support a referendum course to scrap the Senate and create a lean but powerful National Assembly. At the very least, it will bring down the massive wage bill for those characters. Kenyans would definitely support that.

Oscar Okwaro Plato is an analyst with Gravio Consulting Africa. The views are his own.