National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale mobilised Jubilee MPs yesterday to meet the President in a bid to plug the hole that party disunity has created. Among the main items on the agenda was the desperate bid to save Cabinet Secretary for Devolution, Anne Waiguru, from being impeached.
Much as the President is genuinely keen on Jubilee maintaining a united front, it would be better to let the parliamentary process run its course and not be drawn into the machinations of party mandarins inadvertently out to spoil his legacy.
President Kenyatta himself has said his Cabinet secretaries must account for their actions. It thus sets a bad precedent when he appears to be creating political protégés.
There is no doubt that the Cabinet secretaries operate under unique conditions that their predecessors did not have to deal with under the old Constitution, but the best way to test the law is to allow it space to work. Chapter 6 of the Constitution on Integrity applies to all public servants and State officers.
Stain
It is more than possible that the attacks against the Cabinet Secretary for Devolution are prompted by politics rather than any infringement of the law.
But if the President does not give her a chance to defend herself, she will forever remain with the stain that she “survived” an impeachment attempt because the country’s topmost CEO intervened.
No one doubts that if given a fair hearing, Ms Waiguru, a fearless fighter, is more than capable of stating her case effectively to defend her actions.
The impeachment is a political process and neutering it mid stream will do her more harm than good since the accusations brought against her bring neither honour nor dignity to her office.
The Motion by Mithika Linturi should be allowed to proceed through the laid down channels. Should the case lack merit, Waiguru will be vindicated and emerge stronger. Forcing Linturi to abandon a Motion that is publicised and in the public domain will give the impression that the President, and indeed Jubilee, does not care about accountability. Public servants with the ear of the Head of State will operate with impunity in the confidence, misplaced or otherwise, that he will shield them.
We should not be dragged back to the days when leaders had to toe the party line or be punished. The old principal of collective responsibility that enabled leaders to hide behind each other and cover one another’s mistakes should not be allowed to creep back in and destroy the democratic gains we have made over the last few years.
Sycophancy of the kind displayed by Duale and his ilk is the fertiliser for dicatatorships. Allegiance to party and Head of State must never be the reason one holds an a Cabinet office.
Waiguru is innocent unless proved guilty. Jubilee must respect divergent views that member legislators have on issues. This is what underpins the vibrancy of a working democracy.
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