CORD on the radar over opposition role

CORD leaders at a meeting in Nairobi. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

By Stephen Makabila                       

The joint Parliamentary Group  meetings of CORD are known for taking tough positions on various issues of national interest.

However, a section of Kenyans feel the ‘strong worded’ statements released thereafter are rarely transformed into actions to check the political excesses of the Jubilee government.

And therefore, the question among many is whether the coalition, although out-numbered in the National Assembly and the Senate, will remain relevant  as watchdog over government excesses?

Former Assistant minister Mwangi Kiunjuri says CORD has failed to curb controversial Motions and Bills passed in Parliament and that its leader, Raila Odinga, should tell Kenyans the action he will take against CORD MPs.

Among some of the controversial Bills passed by the House in the recent past include the one pulling Kenya out of the Rome Statute, the Media bill and the move to have the President constitute a tribunal to investigate members of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).

But of focus is CORD’s latest opposition to the Jubilee government’s  Nyumba Kumi initiative.

“The Nyumba Kumi initiative is a good idea which enjoys popular public support if it can fix insecurity. CORD should be careful to avoid opposing government policies for the sake of it. It may heavily cost them in terms of credibility,” warns political scientist Amukowa Anangwe.

Prof Anangwe told The Standard on Sunday: “CORD is practicing primitive opposition politics. Opposition is supposed to be constructive as well, and they should give some room for constructive engagement with Jubilee.”

But Moi University law lecturer Titus Bittok argues Nyumba Kumi cannot succeed in Kenya given the capitalistic nature of the economy and that CORD may be right in opposing it.

“The system has failed in Uganda but works in Tanzania because there, its more of a communism than security initiative. In a country like Kenya where people value the right to their privacy, the best way out is for government to invest more in provision of security,” says Bittok,  an advocate.

Joint meeting

On Tuesday after its joint Parliamentary Group at Orange House, CORD declared it was opposed to the Nyumba Kumi initiative. CORD leaders termed it unconstitutional, adding:“Kenya cannot be a police State any more and outside constitutional arrangement”.

CORD leader Raila Odinga said MPs should have been involved in debating and approving the programme because public funds will be used to implement it.

“Let Parliament debate this issue and agree on the amount to be spent on it,” he said.

But Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku maintained the drive was here to stay and was meant to ensure security and good relations.

“The Nyumba Kumi initiative is here to stay and let politicians not lie to you that it is unconstitutional. Without security, there can be no development,” said Lenku.

Broader society

Lenku cited Article 244(e) of the Constitution, which gives police powers to “foster and promote relationships with the broader society” as the section that allows them to start the programme.

Under the programme, all citizens are required to know at least 10 of their neighbours to prevent criminal activities within neighbourhoods.

Cracks have also emerged in CORD, with Kajiado Central MP Joseph Nkaissery faulting the coalition’s leadership and asking them to stop politicising security matters and opposing the government for the sake of it.

There are those who say the fact that CORD took longer to oppose the initiative raises pertinent questions on why exactly it has opted to take that stand.

President Uhuru Kenyatta announced the Nyumba Kumi plan long ago on  Mashujaa Day.

A special team of experts that assessed the coalition’s performance in September returned a ‘failed’ verdict.

In a report given to Raila and co-principal Moses Wetang’ula, the experts said that leaders, including CORD governors, MPs, senators and county representatives had become selfish and abandoned their constituents.

The report was presented at Wetangula’s home on September 16 during a joint Parliamentary Group meeting.  The technical team told senators and MPs from the coalition that they had performed dismally, inside and outside Parliament.

Even so, some CORD-allied MPs   feel its fragmented and its performance as an opposition is below par, and that it has to style up to remain relevant.

Kisumu Town West MP Olago Aluoch had earlier told The Standard on Sunday  that CORD as   an opposition performs below expectations because of lack of proper coordination on major national challenges.

Nyatike MP Omondi Anyanga says CORD has not been effective due to politicians’ individual political interests. He says because individual members are chasing their own political interests, achieving unity of purpose becomes difficult.

“If we have to suceed in the opposition, we must come together and above all, rise above parochial interests,” Anyanga told The Standard on Sunday.

But on Nyumba Kumi, Anyanga says CORD’s opposition to the idea was justifiable.

He says the fear has been that the idea, however noble, will be overshadowed by political interests, where some politicians will use it to entrench their strategies for purposes of future elections.

Checking Jubilee

But even as CORD struggles to put Jubilee on toes, Raila says the coalition’s leadership will take bold steps to revamp it.

The main focus for CORD, he says, was the challenge posed by Jubilee’s use of the ‘tyranny of numbers’ to bulldoze everything through Parliament. He indicated   CORD   was to form a shadow Cabinet, which todate is not in place.

Dennis Onyango, the former PM’s  spokesperson, said days after a walkout from Parliament by CORD MPs when the Rome Statute withdrawal Bill was passed, “CORD’s stand is that while jubilee has the numbers, it will always make clear where it stands on issues. It shall never create room for confusion. The coalition will always engage and debate issues but whenever Jubilee uses its numbers in blind rage, CORD   will make dramatic moves that leave its position loud and clear to all Kenyans.”