Why power games over porfolio balance?
Updated on: Thursday, April 10, 2008
Story by: Rotich Wilson
....................................................................................................................................................................................
PRESIDENT Kibaki should be aware that the signing of the Peace Accord was the beginning of a transitional coalition government where both the leaders of ODM and PNU had to share Executive power.
Power sharing in a ratio of 50-50 means that neither Kibaki nor Prime Minister-designate Raila Odinga is superior. The appointment of Cabinet ministers is, therefore, the prerogative of the President and Raila on a level ground.
The duo must share government equally. Anything that was the preserve of the President must now be shared equitably by the two. That also means dissolving the half Cabinet and appointing new ministers, not “expanding the Cabinet” as the President has said.
The word 50-50 in the Accord nullifies any other section of the Constitution that gives powers to the President alone.
It is now automatic that even if not amended, section III of the Constitution vests the power to appoint Secretary to the Cabinet, Permanent Secretaries, Ambassadors and High Commissioners in the President and the Prime Minister-designate.
Apparently, those backing the president’s take it all are pegging their argument on the provisions of section 23 which states that executive authority is vested in the president and subject to this proviso, may be exercised by him either directly or through the officers subordinate to him.
Head of Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet Mr Francis Muthaura, told Raila, in a letter on Monday, that the Executive authority of the Government was vested in the President under the Constitution, which was not amended in the recent constitutional changes.
What Mr Muthaura may not appreciate is that this section was amended to accommodate a new power dispensation. Muthaura is not aware that by creating section 15A that entrenches the new power sharing deal, the supremacy clause of section 3 can not continue to hold.
But if Muthaura’s understanding of presidential authority is as he bluntly told Raila, then the buck stops with him---the president That also implies that the President and his Party of National Unity are out to monopolise power. It also means that the President has sought refuge in the old Constitution, which Kenyans would rather do without.
The Constitution is bad that it has allowed the killing of the more than 1,000 Kenyans after the last General Election and before, leaving many others displaced and property destroyed.
Perhaps more appropriately, one could point out that given what this country has been through, the wielders of power would not play power games and would while our volatile situation prevails, at least allow some semblance of power balance to take hold.
Kibaki must not look for the few remaining clauses that give him exclusive Executive powers in the defective Constitution that Kenyans have agreed urgently needs not just amendments but an overhaul. Real power sharing is the only key that can unlock the impending portfolio deadlock.
President Kibaki and Raila must now prove that they are not ‘cut from the same cloth’ as the former regimes.
Power sharing in a ratio of 50-50 means that neither Kibaki nor Prime Minister-designate Raila Odinga is superior. The appointment of Cabinet ministers is, therefore, the prerogative of the President and Raila on a level ground.
The duo must share government equally. Anything that was the preserve of the President must now be shared equitably by the two. That also means dissolving the half Cabinet and appointing new ministers, not “expanding the Cabinet” as the President has said.
The word 50-50 in the Accord nullifies any other section of the Constitution that gives powers to the President alone.
It is now automatic that even if not amended, section III of the Constitution vests the power to appoint Secretary to the Cabinet, Permanent Secretaries, Ambassadors and High Commissioners in the President and the Prime Minister-designate.
Apparently, those backing the president’s take it all are pegging their argument on the provisions of section 23 which states that executive authority is vested in the president and subject to this proviso, may be exercised by him either directly or through the officers subordinate to him.
Head of Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet Mr Francis Muthaura, told Raila, in a letter on Monday, that the Executive authority of the Government was vested in the President under the Constitution, which was not amended in the recent constitutional changes.
What Mr Muthaura may not appreciate is that this section was amended to accommodate a new power dispensation. Muthaura is not aware that by creating section 15A that entrenches the new power sharing deal, the supremacy clause of section 3 can not continue to hold.
But if Muthaura’s understanding of presidential authority is as he bluntly told Raila, then the buck stops with him---the president That also implies that the President and his Party of National Unity are out to monopolise power. It also means that the President has sought refuge in the old Constitution, which Kenyans would rather do without.
The Constitution is bad that it has allowed the killing of the more than 1,000 Kenyans after the last General Election and before, leaving many others displaced and property destroyed.
Perhaps more appropriately, one could point out that given what this country has been through, the wielders of power would not play power games and would while our volatile situation prevails, at least allow some semblance of power balance to take hold.
Kibaki must not look for the few remaining clauses that give him exclusive Executive powers in the defective Constitution that Kenyans have agreed urgently needs not just amendments but an overhaul. Real power sharing is the only key that can unlock the impending portfolio deadlock.
President Kibaki and Raila must now prove that they are not ‘cut from the same cloth’ as the former regimes.
No comments:
Post a Comment