President Uhuru meddling in MPs' legislative role

NAIROBI: President Uhuru Kenyatta has introduced a curious culture in legislation that, just on the face of it, looks deeply flawed and if it continues, it will lay the ground for dictatorial tendencies that may chip away at the foundations of Kenya's five-year-old Constitution.

The legal question that now awaits the interpretation of the Judiciary is, what is the role of the President in legislation? To understand how fundamental that question is, we have to understand the legislative process. Here is what happens: For government bills, the Cabinet Secretaries send bills to the National Assembly and the MPs invite the public to give their views. The MPs also listen to the industry players. They also call Cabinet secretaries and they go through the bills clause by clause.