• After squandering two terms by running the economy to the ground, leaving Kenyans desperate and angry, Uhuru comes up with a paper that promises a better life.
• The primary objective of his Building Bridges Initiative is to water down the Constitution, which he has trashed since coming to power in 2013.
Image: PSCU
Uhuru Kenyatta is misleading the country in his quest for a legacy or, perhaps, in his attempt to impose a successor on Kenyans.
It is no secret that the President feels frustrated by the Constitution he swore to uphold. It clips his powers.
Who believes that after nearly eight years in power, Uhuru is realising now the need to create a just and inclusive government for a cohesive Kenya, shared prosperity, blah, blah, blah?
After squandering two terms by running the economy to the ground, leaving Kenyans desperate and angry, Uhuru comes up with a paper that promises a better life.
A dramatic illustration of Uhuru’s utter failure is his government's hiring of thousands of youths to cut grass and unclog blocked drainages, the same people he promised decent jobs.
The primary objective of his Building Bridges Initiative is to water down the Constitution, which he has trashed since coming to power in 2013.
Except for the sweeteners thrown in to win the support of women and youths, BBI is fundamentally about expanding and strengthening the Executive.
Recall that a key plank of the struggle for constitutional reforms was the rejection of the so-called “imperial presidency” invented by Uhuru’s father Jomo Kenyatta. The BBI will restore it.
There is hardly anything in the proposals that cannot be achieved by faithfully implementing the Constitution and competent leadership. Uhuru doesn’t believe in constitutionalism. He is comfortable with political processes he can control.
Kenya is a diverse society. The Preamble of the supreme law recognises that Kenyans are “proud of our ethnic, cultural and religious diversity, and determined to live in peace and unity as one indivisible sovereign nation”.
There is nothing in this diversity that is inimical to peace and national unity, as Uhuru appears to suggest.
But like his mentor President Daniel arap Moi, Uhuru argues that the country is divided because of political competition. He hankers after the single-party system.
BBI is supposed to unite the country. Kenyans should put aside their political differences and work together. But what is wrong with political differences?
In a population of nearly 50 million, everyone cannot hold the same views on how best to run the country. Political diversity is what democracy is about.
Playing on the fear of election-related violence among Kenyans, Uhuru argues that winner-takes-all politics is to blame. But if the winner does not take all, what is the point of elections?
Political competition in any form creates winners and losers, even under a single-party system. The problem is ethnic supremacy, privatisation of the state to serve personal and not public interest and exclusion. You can't cure any of that by merely creating posts in the Executive for ethnic elites.
Election-related violence is organised by politicians, some who believe – with good reason – that the electoral process is never free or fair.
The Constitution is not the problem. Uhuru and his “brother” Raila Odinga want to mutilate it for their own political ends.
What has the Constitution got to do with mortgaging the country to China through loans, or filling top government jobs with appointees from one or two ethnic groups?
How will changing the Constitution end the wanton theft of public funds by well-connected persons within the Uhuru regime? How is the Constitution responsible for mass unemployment or police brutality? Or poverty? Or the emasculation of Parliament, the Judiciary and independent offices by the Uhuru Executive?
What is Uhuru’s record in implementing promises? The new Sh1.9 billion desks he said would be distributed to schools by October 19, have not been delivered.
Is Uhuru’s government building 500,000 affordable houses for Kenyans by 2022 — less than two years from now?
What about Jubilee’s rosy campaign promises? What did Uhuru do with the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission report? It is gathering dust in his office. Implementing the TJRC report would have achieved the national cohesion Uhuru says is his target.
Ever heard of the Ndung’u report on land justice? Or the Kriegler commission report? The Waki commission report? Why would anyone think the BBI report wouldn’t suffer a similar fate once it achieves its political objectives?
Other than Independence in 1963, the Constitution of Kenya 2010 is the most important shared political achievement of Kenyans. Only its full implementation would fulfil the desire of Kenyans for a free, prosperous, peaceful and just nation.
BBI seeks to desecrate the Constitution to benefit Uhuru and his political allies.