Sack the corrupt - Civil Society tells Kibaki, Raila

By BEAUTTAH OMANGA

The Civil Society continue to exert pressure on President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to sideline civil servants and ministers implicated in vices during the new swearing-in after promulgation of new constitution.

The International Centre for Policy and Conflict (ICPC) and the Kituo Cha Sheria demanded on Sunday that the two Principals purge the corrupt from Government before the swearing-in of the Cabinet and top ranking civil servants.

After the new constitution is promulgated, MPs, the cabinet and top ranking civil servants would have to swear to defend the new document.

"President, Prime Minister must seize opportunity to put an end to impunity" said the ICPC Executive Director Ndungu Wainaina.

Kituo Cha Sheria Director Priscilla Nyokabi said, " The two leaders should leave the baggage behind as they usher the country into a new dawn".

The ICPC urged the two principals to respect and uphold the core constitutional principles enshrined in the New Constitution.

"It is absolutely necessary for the two Principals to adhere to the constitutional principles outlined in Chapter Six and Thirteen respectively of the New Constitution to bring to end a long-standing culture of impunity, massive human rights violations, abuse of office and endemic corruption’ stated Wainaina in a statement.

What new constitution says

Article 73(2) and Article 232 sum up the sufficient and necessary conditions that the two principals must observe while appointing any person to serve in any public office: "selection on the basis of personal integrity, competence and suitability. [and]...objectivity and impartiality in decision making, and in ensuring that decisions are not influenced by nepotism, favouritism, other improper motives or corrupt practices".

The duo said Kenyans by exercising their democratic and constitutive right voted in affirmative the New Constitution and they must be assured of its full implementation starting with the swearing in scheduled for this Friday.

"Failure to respect this sovereign will shall amount to political sabotage of the New Constitution. It is the sovereign will of the people of Kenya which they are expected to respect not political expediency’ noted Wainaina.

He said unless the President and Prime Minister wholeheartedly embrace the inviolability of human rights, justice and accountability, the struggle for security and development will not succeed in Kenya.

‘To treat human rights and accountability as an imposition by the West or a luxury for which people of Kenya are not ready for is an affront and demeans the yearning for human dignity that resides in every Kenyan heart’ said the activist.

He expressed concern that Impunity remained a major impediment to development and that it was now correctly documented that without justice, there is no security, no rule of law, no transparency and little respect for human rights.

Call on African Union

They urged the Africa Union (AU) to seize the moment to speak up for justice and against impunity in Kenya.

"The African Union Panel of Eminent Persons should therefore counsel the two Principals appropriately. The office of the eminent persons remains relevant’ said Wainaina.

He also called on the AU members and the international community not turn a blind eye to lack of accountability in Kenya. They must bring pressure to bear on the government of Kenya to ensure it takes its international human rights obligations seriously.

"The promulgation of new Constitution offers a fresh impetus and opportunity to the fight against impunity and the purge against corruption in Kenya,’ he said.