Post by KIMANI on Nov 29, 2005 19:44:07 GMT 3
Presidential Powers in Kenya
Story by PETER KIMANI
Publication Date: 11/24/2005
The powers vested in the Executive underpinned the bruising contest for the new Constitution.
This had elicited more heat during the Moi era, with his many critics, among them President Kibaki, claiming the retired President enjoyed too much power for anybody's comfort.
Over time, some sycophants would suggest it was not problematic for "a good President" to wield excessive powers and that Kibaki, was such a President.
When the doors to State House swung open to let in hordes of all manner of "interest" groups, as the referendum campaigns intensified, many feared "Mwai" was becoming "Moi."
For few knew President Kibaki's magnanimity, the sort that retired President Moi personified. But then, Mr Moi had gained notoriety for bending the law to accommodate his excesses, and President Kibaki had established a reputation as a stickler for the rule of law and careful spender.
Then something snapped and President Kibaki was disregarding court orders to give out title deeds to the landless Ogiek; the displaced in Mau Narok were being resettled in forestlands, and the cash-strapped civil service could suddenly afford pay rises for Provincial Administration.
Chiefs, who were technically out of a job – since the Provincial Administration was to be scrapped once the proposed Constitution came into effect – were assured they would still have a job and more money went their way.
The State House visits, a tradition that Mr Moi picked from the founding President Jomo Kenyatta, was a first for President Kibaki, who seemed content to host technocrats, not villagers on hired buses.
The argument that the rejected draft would have placed more power in the future Presidents, is debatable. But President Kibaki's actions pale in comparison with Mr Moi's.
Mr Moi's decrees were many and expensive: the construction of the bullet factory and airport in Eldoret, and the purchase of a presidential jet – without parliamentary approval – cost the tax-payers billions of shillings.
Similarly, public properties like the Kenyatta International Conference Centre simply reverted to the ruling party, Kanu, while Agricultural Development Corporation farms were dished out to cronies.
Even the education sector was not spared. Mr Moi decreed that 85 per cent of A-Level students were to be picked from their localities, a gesture that effectively locked out deserving students from elsewhere.
Where presidential decrees could not work, Mr Moi used Parliament to rubber-stamp a raft of legislation that have resulted in the legal minefield the country is walking today.
The repeal of Section 2 (a), which transformed the country into a one-party state, was done through the Amendment Act Number 7 of 1982. It took a decade and countless lives to restore multi-partyism.
Further, Parliament, on Mr Moi's order, reinstated the detention laws which had been suspended in 1978.
Colonial era laws, like the Chief's Authority Act, the Public Order Act, the Preservation of Public Security Act and the Penal Codes, gave the president the right to suspend individual rights guaranteed by the constitution.
"For the first time in Kenya's post independence history, the provincial administrators who are civil servants, were directed by the Office of the President to get involved in the internal affairs of Kanu," academics Korwa Adar and Isaac Munyae wrote in a recent paper, Human Rights Abuse in Kenya, 1978 - 2001.
"They were to review and clear party meetings throughout the country and to isolate dissenters. Kanu officials and members of Parliament henceforth were subjected to these administrative procedures, undermining the meaning and legitimacy of representation in Kenya's legislature."
Escaped scrutiny
The founding President, on the other hand, somewhat escaped scrutiny by the time of his death in August 1978.
But continued interrogation of his legacy reveals a man whose word was law, and whose actions frequently overstepped the limits of law.
Those roadside declarations that Mr Moi perfected, originated with Kenyatta. Public land would be dished out to individuals without question, and the on-going struggles for land are traced to this period.
Story by PETER KIMANI
Publication Date: 11/24/2005
The powers vested in the Executive underpinned the bruising contest for the new Constitution.
This had elicited more heat during the Moi era, with his many critics, among them President Kibaki, claiming the retired President enjoyed too much power for anybody's comfort.
Over time, some sycophants would suggest it was not problematic for "a good President" to wield excessive powers and that Kibaki, was such a President.
When the doors to State House swung open to let in hordes of all manner of "interest" groups, as the referendum campaigns intensified, many feared "Mwai" was becoming "Moi."
For few knew President Kibaki's magnanimity, the sort that retired President Moi personified. But then, Mr Moi had gained notoriety for bending the law to accommodate his excesses, and President Kibaki had established a reputation as a stickler for the rule of law and careful spender.
Then something snapped and President Kibaki was disregarding court orders to give out title deeds to the landless Ogiek; the displaced in Mau Narok were being resettled in forestlands, and the cash-strapped civil service could suddenly afford pay rises for Provincial Administration.
Chiefs, who were technically out of a job – since the Provincial Administration was to be scrapped once the proposed Constitution came into effect – were assured they would still have a job and more money went their way.
The State House visits, a tradition that Mr Moi picked from the founding President Jomo Kenyatta, was a first for President Kibaki, who seemed content to host technocrats, not villagers on hired buses.
The argument that the rejected draft would have placed more power in the future Presidents, is debatable. But President Kibaki's actions pale in comparison with Mr Moi's.
Mr Moi's decrees were many and expensive: the construction of the bullet factory and airport in Eldoret, and the purchase of a presidential jet – without parliamentary approval – cost the tax-payers billions of shillings.
Similarly, public properties like the Kenyatta International Conference Centre simply reverted to the ruling party, Kanu, while Agricultural Development Corporation farms were dished out to cronies.
Even the education sector was not spared. Mr Moi decreed that 85 per cent of A-Level students were to be picked from their localities, a gesture that effectively locked out deserving students from elsewhere.
Where presidential decrees could not work, Mr Moi used Parliament to rubber-stamp a raft of legislation that have resulted in the legal minefield the country is walking today.
The repeal of Section 2 (a), which transformed the country into a one-party state, was done through the Amendment Act Number 7 of 1982. It took a decade and countless lives to restore multi-partyism.
Further, Parliament, on Mr Moi's order, reinstated the detention laws which had been suspended in 1978.
Colonial era laws, like the Chief's Authority Act, the Public Order Act, the Preservation of Public Security Act and the Penal Codes, gave the president the right to suspend individual rights guaranteed by the constitution.
"For the first time in Kenya's post independence history, the provincial administrators who are civil servants, were directed by the Office of the President to get involved in the internal affairs of Kanu," academics Korwa Adar and Isaac Munyae wrote in a recent paper, Human Rights Abuse in Kenya, 1978 - 2001.
"They were to review and clear party meetings throughout the country and to isolate dissenters. Kanu officials and members of Parliament henceforth were subjected to these administrative procedures, undermining the meaning and legitimacy of representation in Kenya's legislature."
Escaped scrutiny
The founding President, on the other hand, somewhat escaped scrutiny by the time of his death in August 1978.
But continued interrogation of his legacy reveals a man whose word was law, and whose actions frequently overstepped the limits of law.
Those roadside declarations that Mr Moi perfected, originated with Kenyatta. Public land would be dished out to individuals without question, and the on-going struggles for land are traced to this period.