THE PROPOSED NEW CONSTITUTION IS A CASE OF HOBSON'S CHOICE

LANCASTER Constitution is the only set of laws Kenya has known from 1963 when independence was attained. It offers the good, the bad and of course the ugly. One of its most cellebrated provisions is rather its take on nationhood which clearly states that Kenya is a unitary sovereign republic. The firm conclusion has made sure that all citizens develop and uphold an idea of 'One Kenya, One People' against all odds. And indeed through out post-independence history – as the rest of Africa witnessed secessionistic politics whereby various regions engaged in warfares against their central governments in order to form splinter independent or autonomous states – such a thing could not be witnessed here in Kenya. As a people there is no doubt that we have always shown greater love and respect to our national name and flag. And that is majorly because of what Lancaster law constantly reminded us about who we are. Nonetheless there is a not so good side to this famous constitution that has time and again made our progress utterly impossible. Centralization of nearly all powers in the office of the president with no clear checks and balances in place has been the main cause of our political and socio-economic dwarfism all these years. Under the constitution the president is elevated to the rank of God. And through his enernomous powers, he decides which regions to develop and which ones not to. He can hire anybody – learned or not – to run any department within the land without any worry of being questioned. He can also unlawfully detain and torture anybody accused of dissidence. And that's not all – he can also shut down any media house that often critisizes his style of leadership. There is no doubt that our first constitution has brought us more harm than good. And for over twenty years now we have dedicated our lives and resources on drafting a totally different set of laws that can effectively address most of our current tribulations. In 2005 we missed the opportunity by a whisker when the most anticipated child known as Bomas Draft was marcillessly sabotaged in the womb and later on born without life needed to save this country.

Thankfully, we are a people that never give up. And on 4^th August 2010, the referendum day, we will know for sure whether or not a brand new constitution will come our way. Like most of us, I do also believe the proposed new law is much better than what we have currently – and if adopted, it stand a high chance of addressing most of our national ills. For the first time ever we are going to live under a system whereby power is well split between the executive, parliament and judiciary. The arrangement is done in such a way that each entity has a certain authority over the others (a system of checks and balances). For instance, the president shall only nominate and with the approval of the national assembly appoint and may dismiss cabinet secretaries, the attoney general, ambassadors amongst other senior state officials. Our new judiciary shall never again be subject to the control of anybody or authority. And perhaps the biggest of all good news is the fact that our national revenue will be shared equally amongst all 47 proposed new counties. The people of Kenya will also be able to recall all their non-performing members of parliament – a provision I do believe is long over due. The culture of hiding in the capital city the whole term as soon as our MPs get elected will from 4^th August 2010 be a thing of the past. Failure to pass this new law will no doubt slow down our quest to become a middle income country by 2030. And that's not all, it will mean we carry on under the same old system responsible for most of our problems. Vote wisely, Kenya!

2010 UK GENERAL ELECTIONS

A Case of Rare Observations and Countless Lessons

UK GOVERNMENT welcomed various leaders from around the world mainly under the banners of the Royal Commonwealth Society and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association to observe how elections are done British style. The entourage was made up of groups of MPs from Jamaica, Ghana, Rwanda, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Sierra Leone and one Mr. Ababu Namwamba as the sole representative from myKenyan parliament. Nonetheless, it was not just the teams on the ground that would end up enjoying close follow-up on the historic test on one of the world's oldest democracies. The fame of the country coupled with the first ever televised debates between Labour's Gordon Brown, Conservative's David Cameron and Lib Dem's Nick Clegg made sure that the whole world was swept along.

Rare Observations

Even in my own distant obseravation I managed to spot a rather one of a kind scenario at the vote casting stage. It became clear that in the UK voters are not necessarily required to produce any form of identification in order to have a say in the ballot. As long as their names and addresses exist on the voters roll they are a free people to participate in the elections. UK also have a very decentralised electoral system and this is because election officials work under local authorities. Staff at each and every polling station is also very small. And my comparative research readings tell me that the composition is as small as one polling clerk and one presiding officer. However, electoral commission assures all doubtful voices that there are adequate stand-by officers that may be rushed in at any polling station experiencing any form of emergency. Anather rather rare observation in the British electoral landscape is total inexistence of a national voters roll. The only rolls present are local registers at constituency level and the responsibility of maintaning them lies solely and squarely with the 164 local authorities across the country.

Unlike in many democracies around the world, in the UK one is actually free to register as a voter at more than one polling stations even though deterrence against double or tripple voting is totally unclear in the country's electoral regurlations. Postal ballots which the ten year old electoral commission sometimes send upon recieving orders from voters who wish to recieve them some people (me included) do fear stand a chance of being corruptible. And a similar high profile fear came in 2008 on the backdrop of UK 2005 General Elections from the Council of Europe. The council wrote: ''The UK's rather arcane system of voter registration combined with postal voting on demand means that the UK delivers democratic elections despite the vulnerabilities in the electoral system.''

Finally, the British community may also want to rethink their current system whereby one party is actually able to govern with minority mandate. Back in 2005 Labour Party managed to get 55 per cent of the parliamentary seats on a 35 per cent share of total votes cast. While in this year's elections, the Conservatives managed a 36 per cent share of all votes cast but still had to seek reinforcement from the Lib Dems in order to govern.

Lessons To Young Democracies

A young democracy that I'm 100 per cent familiar with is my homeland Kenya. So before constituting any list of lessons from the UK to any young democracy it is important that I first contrast Kenyan style of politics and the British one. Here in my motherland I'm afraid contenders in a presidential race still regard and treat each other as real enemies. This makes political campaigns full of unrealistic defamation and mudslinging – the type I did not see in the UK elections. That sort of unfortunate behavour have perenially made it hard for opponents to work together in, let's say, a coalition government. Right now David Cameron and Nick Clegg are only able to co-rule smoothly despite their completely different ideologies just because they did not loose respect for each other during their campaigns. Certainly these leaders of mine that I still hate to hate need to shade off the culture of excess propaganda and defamation and begin to put on that of selling nothing other than what their party manifestos say the same manner Britons did.

Another great feature in the UK electoral landmap is high level of faith that both politicians and voters have in their electoral commission. In my frequent shifts from one news channel to another, not once did I notice even a single police officer at any polling station. This is a direct opposite to what usually happen right here in Kenya and most of young democracies across the world where on elections day polling stations become no different from army barracks. In Kenya in particular the army and the police are normally part of a campaign to intimidate voters and a wider plot to rig the final elections outcome.

Additional Information

Out of 650 parliamentary seats the Conservative Party won 306 while Labour and Lib Dems won 258 and 57 respectively. All the remaining seats went to smaller parties. However to constitute a government in the UK a party needs at least 325(+1) parliamentary seats – a mark no any given single party managed to reach in this year's elections. The resulting situation is known as a 'Hung Parliament'. And a similar case happened way back in 1974 when Edward Heath – a Tory tried constituting a government with a minority of 297 parliamentary seats and 37.9 per cent of the popular vote. He however failed to sway Lib Dems to his side thereby forcing him to give way to Labour leader Harold Wilson with his 301 parliamentary seats and 37.2 per cent of the popular vote.

Note: This compilation is generally based on my personal observation of the 2010 UK General Elections. However some conclussions are reached after comparative perusals of a number of books, newspapers and internet files.