WE HAVE TO MAKE A NATION

WE HAVE TO MAKE A NATION

From drumbeats of secession, to a presidential election boycotted by two thirds of the country’s electorate, to calls for economic of certain goods and services--- Kenyans are coming to the grim realization that, all along they have only been dealing with symptoms of the illness and not the actual disease. 

Our crisis today, is a crisis of political exclusion of a majority of the nation’s regions and nationalities, from the center of political power. It is a political crisis that has its genesis in the way state and political power, was structured and used in the first post-colonial governments of Jomo Kenyata and Daniel ArapMoi. The electoral system is the instrument that has been used to perpetuate this flawed arrangement—and not the problem.  

No amount of reactive tinkering with the country’s electoral laws and processes as currently provided for in the constitution, can cure this problem. A lasting cure can only be found in a collective political will, to carry out radical review and rearrangement of the governance and power structures at regional and national level. 

Kenya, like any other African state, is an arbitrary colonial construct, whose creation only made sense to the imperial regimes that created it. The nature and character of the colonial African state had nothing to do with the interests of its indigenous inhabitants. It was delineated as a location for extraction of raw materials and labor, to feed a hungry and resource poor, Europe. 

The structure of government of these dominions, was linear with absolute power concentrated at the top under the colonial governor. Indigenous nationalities of the continent, used to moving freely across the length and breadth of the continent, to trade and find suitable pasture for their livestock, found themselves forced into borders that had little to do with their reality nor livelihoods.  

Africa’s famed consensual community leadership structures based on councils of respected elders were dismantled, as the colonial government imposed unilateral top-down autocratic administrative systems under the village Chief and the provincial administration. Except for mundane cultural issues, the colonial chief usurped all the powers of local governance. Local communities were quickly reduced to powerless, subjects of a foreign power, they never knew---nor understood. 

The fight for independence was primarily founded on the criterion that, upon gaining independence, African leaderships would replace the much hated colonial administrative systems, with home grown self-governance models. Instead, most post-independence African governments, wholesomely adopted the prevailing colonial  governance systems. 

Most of the new leaders, such as Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, had minimal national political leadership and governance experience. This weakness was readily exploited by colonial imperial powers, that were desperate to maintain a foothold in the political and economic affairs of their former colonies. In the process, the new African leaderships,were cunningly convinced to retain agents of colonial governments, as their advisors on governance and economic affairs of the newly independent nations.

In Kenya, this unholy alliance eventually led to retention and sustenance of the entire colonial administrative and government machinery---except for superficial personnel changes. 

The JomoKenyata government not only adopted the entire colonial systems, but used it to accentuate and consolidate its hold on power.  During the Kenyata’s era, Provincial and district commissioners, were like a small gods. The concetration of power in these centralized bureaucracies, was such that, in President  Daniel Arap Moi’s, Nyayo era, to  have a social gathering in your home, one had to be authorized by the local chief. The dream of autonomous self-governance and economic empowerment that most communities had hoped for, vanished within a few decades of self-rule under the two two post independence leaderships. 

On the political front, most post-independence regimes, opted for the one party system based on a flawed argument that, multi-party democracy, would divert focus from national development. Jommo Kenyatta’s regime, used this argument to undermine KADU in the 60’s and eventually to criminalize the Kenya People’s Union (KPU) of Jaramogi, Oginga. 

The despotic concentration of power in the center under the presidency took place despite the fact that, it was the desire to preserve their regional economic and political autonomy, that led nationalities from different regions of the country, to mount a stiff resistance against colonial rule. It is the yearning for regional autonomy, that informed the formation pre-independence political parties such KADU---which strongly agitated for the autonomy of the country’s various regions and people nations.  

Armed with a powerful autocratic state machinery and a compliant single party governance structure, those in power turned them into instrument for pervasive accumulation of power and wealth. The public and the private became inseparable. The outcome of this scenario, is evident in Kenya today. The country’s profile of “who is who” in wealth and capital accumulation, is synonymous with those who were (and still are) directly or indirectly close to the centers of power during the Jomo Kenyatta, 

Moi, MwaiKibaki and the current regime.

Since their ties to the presidency were largely determined by kinship, cronyism and business associations, most individuals in this powerful “Corporate Political Center” (CPC), (variously known as the “the Kiambu Mafia, Mt Kenya Mafia, and the Rift Valley Mafia”) tend to come from the home regions of Kenya’s first three presidents. An indication of their arrogant and pervasive abuse of power, is portrayed by the former Vice President of Kenya, Moody Awori, in his autobiography. The former VP narrates how, two powerful ministers from President MwaiKibaki’s Mt. Kenya region, would contemptuously, insist on conversing with the president in their mother tongue (Kikuyu), in his presence.

To protect their vested interests, this clique of financially powerful individuals, maintains a tight leash on the nation’s political and economic life.Through their deep tentacles and alliances, in the financial sector, media and the state machinery, this powerful CPC, virtually determines who ascends to political power in Kenya. This fact is enabled by an electoral system that allows anyone who can afford it, to buy their way to power, irrespective of character, background or qualifications.

The long-term implication of this scenario is that, unless the country carries out a radical structural overhaul of the nation’s governance system, to ensure regional balance in how executive power is acquired and shared at national level, the presidency shall remain a preserve of the Mt. Kenya and Rift Valley regions.

The scenario above is responsible for the country’s current political problems. The current crisis manifests directly, from a realization by other regions and nationalities, that the domination of the nation’s political and economic affairs by oligarchs from two communities, cannot be cured through an easy to compromise “winner takes all” electoral system. The crisis can only be cured by evolution of a governance system, that shall accord equal opportunity to all regions in the country, to ascend to national leadership. This should be done with the understanding that, some of the world’s most stable and progressive nations, have arisen out of a shared convergence of regional interests. This fact is partly behind the stability and progress of nations such as, German and Switzerland. 

Where regional interests are perpetually, ignored and compromised through a selfish unitary center of power---the result is endemic conflict and eventual collapse of the national fabric. Somalia and the Central African Republic are among numerous post-colonial African nations in this situation.

It was the desire by most regions of the country, for a stake in the national power center, that informed the National Constitutional Conference (the Bomas Conference), to propose a governance framework that provided for semi- autonomous regions. However, the Bomas conference shied away from deconstructing executive power at the national level, to ensure a say of the nation’s regions in how it's used and acquired.

In an attempt to demystify the presidency, the current constitution provides for devolved county governments with semi-autonomous powers. However, the County governments have to rely on exchequer controlled by the national government for their budgetary resources. The current government, has used this authority to place politically manipulate the flow of resources to the counties. The result is that, substantial resources meant for sectors such as agriculture, roads and health services, are still shrewdly controlled by the executive at national level to favor certain regions. .

The current regime has gone beyond any other previous one, in the pervasive use of power to perpetuate a hegemonic,  ethnocentric power base---founded on the two majority communities from the Rift Valley and Central Kenya. This factor has, more than at any other time in history, placed at stake the question of Kenya’s nationhood.
 

Where should the country place priority?  Should we place perpetually place our faith in a system that is designed to perpetually guarantee leadership of the nation by any two or three majority communities, that choose to coalesce politically,  or engage in the immediate search for a system of governance, that shall recognize our diversity and a  shared sense of nationhood?

THE PROPOSAL FOR AN INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP

      To cure our perpetual electoral crises that spring up every time we approach a presidential election, it is proposed that, the country evolves and adopts a system that will enable executive power in the country to rotate among the various regions every four years. It is hence proposed as follows:
 

1       1.   A regional premiership shall be established in each the (10-12) major regions of the country .

2       2.  Each county will nominate a maximum of 3 qualified persons through voting   by secret ballot, supervised by the IEBC, from a list of legible contestants---to vie for the position of regional Premier

3        One of the nominees shall be a woman

4       The nomination shall be based on as special criteria to be established.

5        Nominated candidates shall be subjected to an inter-county Regional Electoral College (REC) of eminent persons, professionals and major social groups

6       The REC shall nominate not more that 3 qualified persons, one whom shall be a woman, to vie for the seat. 

7       The persons who garners the highest number of vvjjte votes from all the county EC’S in the region, shall be elected to BarazaKuu La Taifa (The House of Premiers). 

8        An Upper House of Premiers, BarazaKuu La Taifa, shall  every three years, nominate two candidates from among its members to contest for the position of Prime Minister,who shall also be the head of the executive.

9       The Prime Minister shall be elected from a region which has never produced a president since independence, until the cycle of 12 regions is complete. 

10 . The nominated candidates, shall be subjected to electoral colleges of county assemblies in the 47 counties, supervised by the IEBC. The candidate who garners the highest aggregate votesshall be elected as Prime Minister.

          11. The House of premiers shall vet members of the  cabinet upon recommendations of the Prime Minister elect.

1       12.  In exceptional circumstances, where the majority of the Upper House are convinced of the exceptional service to the nation by a Prime Minister, they could extend his/her term by not more than one year through a vote of confidence by two thirds of the House. 

1      13. The Prime Minister and the executive will be accountable to both the Parliament and the  Upper House. 

    

    THE REGIONAL PREMIER

1    

     Each regional premier will convene two Regional Assemblies, to consider cross cutting matters affecting an entire region. The assemblies shall be attended by majority and minority leaders of each county Assembly, the governors and House Speakers of each county in the region.

2      

          During the assemblies, each county through the governor, shall present a report of cross cutting issues affecting their county that require concerted regional or national policy action.

3      

          The report of the regional Assembly shall be tabled to the Upper House by the regional premier for policy action. 

4      

          The Upper House will meet 3 times a year, while the National Assembly shall have four sittings. The Upper House will handle all matters and Bills relating to the functioning of devolved governments and cross cutting regional issues. 

5        The role of the regional premier shall be:

·      

1.            To promote national values and a sense of nationhood in the region
2. ·         To promote the sustainable management of natural resources in the region
3. ·         To promote inter-county cooperation, among counties in the region 
4. ·         To foster cooperation and cohesion with other region in the country
5.  

                          

Awori Achoka

Contact:
awori.achoka@gmail.com

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