Real power is in the hands of legislators and not president

Parliament Buildings, Nairobi. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

This election, like the previous two, seems to be missing out on a critical aspect of the Constitution: The central and consequential place of Parliament. Instead, the country seems to only obsess over the presidency when, in constitutional terms, Parliament has more substantive and potent powers than those of the president.

The Constitution assigns Parliament three substantive powers: Lawmaking, budget allocation and oversight. This largely sounds characteristic of what most parliaments in the world do - but it is not for a number of reasons.