• Make political competition amongst political parties as opposed to a competition amongst individuals.
• Parties at a general election should submit candidates for governor to the IEBC to be approved by the Senate
Image: DOUGLAS OKIDDY
In radical proposals to the Building Bridges Initiative task force, House Speaker Justin Muturi — an ally of President Uhuru Kenyatta — has urged Kenya to completely do away with the election of the president through winner-take-all universal suffrage.
Instead, he recommended on Tuesday that presidents should be nominated by the parties that win the majority votes in the general elections.
“In order to build a bridge that allows us to transcend the pitfalls of heavily contested presidential elections, I proposed to remove election of the president by universal suffrage,” he told the BBI team as it wound up public hearings in Nairobi.
The Senate, too, presented its views, including playing an equal role in budget making and calling for clearly defined roles.
For the first time, the Speaker confessed that he has presided over some of the most divisive parliamentary sittings that promote division, not national cohesion.
“I have had experienced first-hand the pitfalls of a divided nation and toiled through two general elections to bring sanity to a House of Parliament torn through the middle by the outcomes of the election,” he said.
in 2014, there were fistfights between Jubilee and the opposition over the security amendment laws. Machakos Senator Johnson Muthama's trousers were torn and opponents bit Dagoretti North MP Simba Arati’s hand, among other indignities.
Speaking before the BBI team, Muturi said the first remedy to conflict associated with elections should be to entrench political competition at the ballot amongst political parties, not individuals.
Since the BBI hearings began, no political party or individual has made a similar proposal as most Kenyans say they want to elect their president directly.
However, the task force has been grappling with the challenge of divisive elections, which is part of the nine-point handshake agenda.
Critics say ethnic antagonism and divisive polls would not be solved if the universal suffrage election of the president is not overhauled.
However, major political elites have strongly opposed a parliamentary-type system of government in which they think they would lose power.
Mount Kenya leaders, for instance, insist the system would disadvantage them because of their few constituencies despite their “tyranny of numbers”.
However, Muturi dangled what appeared to be a carrot before his Central Kenya backyard.
The Speaker suggested that MPs should not represent more than 200,000 people.
If this proposal were to be adopted, Mount Kenya constituencies, the country’s most populous, would be divided into many more constituencies with the electoral boundary review set for this year.
It was not immediately clear if Muturi had the blessings of State House or if he spoke in his individual capacity.
“I identify fully with the efforts of President Uhuru Kenyatta, commander-in-chief of the Kenya Defence Forces and the erstwhile Opposition leader Raila Odinga, to initiate the Building Bridges to a united Kenya,” he said in his opening remarks.
On Tuesday, Muturi insisted that voters at a general election should vote for the party that best captures their aspirations.
He further added that Kenyans should view their aspirations through political parties, rather than individuals.
“This would help entrench a new dispensation of the politics of ideas rather than the politics of ethnic mobilisation. This proposal should also apply to the position of deputy president,” he said.
He was categorical that he has had extensive interaction with the 2010 Constitution, including the enactment of enabling statutes. He said there have been unsuccessful attempts to amend the Constitution.
Muturi further proposed to the Yusuf Haji-led team that governors also should not be elected through universal suffrage.
He said each political party at a general election should submit to the IEBC a list of three candidates for each county, each qualified to hold office, including one woman.
Upon pronouncement of results of a general election, he said, the chairperson of the IEBC shall forward to the Senate the name of one person nominated by the political party with the most votes at the county level.
“Where the Senate rejects a nominee, the chairperson of the IEBC shall within three days submit the name of the nominee next on the priority list of the nominating political party,” he added.
He warned that any negation of a winner-loser arrangement would shortchange the people who took time to choose between competitors.
“The party that garners the second-highest number of votes in a general election should become the official opposition party. The leader of that party should assume the role of Leader of Official Opposition in the National Assembly,” he recommended.
Muturi, however, said nothing should prevent the winning political party from entering into a post-election coalition with the runner-up parties for purposes of smooth governance.