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Shielding the Constitution – Making Process from Derailment by Anti-Reformists: Your Role as a Citizen
Article Summary
Source:
Date: 3/10/2010
Nairobi, (9th March 2010), TI Kenya notes with concern the push by certain politicians for the Naivasha draft constitution submitted by the Parliamentary Select Committee to the Committee of Experts. This move threatens the continued peace and stability of this country as the Naivasha draft retains almost exactly the weaknesses inherent in the current constitution, the weaknesses that initially led to the need for a constitutional review process.
Kenyans must remain steadfast and faithful to the spirit of a new constitution and remember the underlying ethos of constitutional reform:- The abuse of authority by the executive, parliamentarians, judicial officers, attorney general, security agencies and civil servants at the expense of public land, basic services, access to public jobs, access to justice and freedoms and rights of Kenyans. To date, Kenyans have lost over 300 billion shillings worth of resources to abuse of power.
- The inequalities inherent amongst the political elite and those marginalised from power, the landed and the landless, men and women. As a result, we are a deeply divided society, constantly undermining national interests for narrow gains and destroying the nation through conflict.
- The ethnic threats and violence that the political machinations, inequalities and mistrust above have fostered threatens to steep this country into full scale violence. We must not hold ourselves as distinct from Sierra Leone, where armed groups, similar to Mungiki, found legitimacy in a government that people could not trust with public resources or justice delivery. These groups flared into armies that have since steeped the country in civil war. Neither are we dissimilar to Cote d'Ivoire, where ethnicities systematically marginalised from power by a skewed constitution, armed themselves and divided the country in half.
Kenyans must no longer allow themselves to be manipulated by our politicians to access and abuse power. They have done this by dividing us through promising exclusive access to the proceeds of power and corruption at crucial moments such as elections, referenda and reforms. We should have seen by now that even though we may benefit in the short term from these divisions, we will in the long term regret such short sighted and ultimately ineffective actions. It is time to say to ourselves, our neighbours and our politicians that we have been selfish in the past but IT ENDS WITH THIS CONSTITUTION.
TI Kenya calls on citizens of Kenya to commit to;- Push for the CoE Draft constitution and Stop Abuse of Your Power by Politicians: The CoE draft constitution has potentially effective accountability mechanisms thus the politicians interests in subverting it. We call on fellow citizens to protect these elements which include; protection of the rights of every Kenyan, accountability for citizens' entrusted power used by the president, MPs, judges, the police and civil servants
- Push for the CoE draft constitution and end the cycle of needless Death of Your Fellow Kenyans In Your Name: Political violence has in the past been perpetrated in the name of ethnicity and is bound to happen again either in a contentious constitutional referendum or in 2012. The draft constitution will potentially reduce the risk of elections being a desperate race for corruption opportunities in state organs as it will ensure equity among Kenyans and fairness in public resources and public service opportunities.
- Push for the draft Constitution and Stop Theft of YOUR MONEY: More than 300 billion shillings of our money has been stolen. This is money that would have provided jobs and incomes, security, food, education, water and healthcare. The draft will ensure that parliament is effective in monitoring use of public money by the government, that KACC is effective in catching thieves who steal from public coffers and that the judges are effective in meting out justice.
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