Conduct referendum in August

A wagoner was driving a heavy load along a muddy road. He came to a part of the road where the wheels sank halfway into the mire, and the more the horses pulled, the deeper the wheels sank.

So the wagoner threw down his whip, knelt down and prayed to Hercules the Strong. “O Hercules, help me in this my hour of distress.” But Hercules appeared to him and said: “Don’t sprawl there. Get up and put your shoulder to the wheel.”

Kenya is at a point where we must all pull our weight to ensure that we get things moving. We have to ensure that we deal with the ongoing pandemic, go to a referendum and prepare for next year’s election.

Last week, the Building Bridges Initiative secretariat came out strongly stating that the referendum should be held in August. Kenyans expected that the matter would have been out of the way by the end of June.

With Kenyans feeling the effects of the pandemic and lockdown, the referendum seems like an idea that will not materialise, some even doubting if the timelines will be met in time.

Currently, Parliament is in recess and due to reconvene next month. The BBI-sponsored Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill 2020 is awaiting Parliament for it to head to the referendum.

As it stands, the joint parliamentary team looking into the Bill is scheduled to finalise its report this week for the tabling before the two Houses. It is imperative that the team settles all the outstanding issues immediately to ensure that Parliament doesn’t spend too much time on the Bill.

Kenyans are yearning for a streamlined Constitution that prioritises development, reduces waste, makes leaders more accountable and streamlines service delivery.

Members of Parliament must therefore reach a consensus on the best way forward, and how to execute the recommendations in the BBI while ensuring that the spirit of what was proposed is not lost during its execution.

The BBI process is critical to the country’s future as it sets the stage for crucial changes that we need in our governance. It is therefore important that this process is protected from narrow selfish political interests.

The proponents of BBI ensured that there is a clause that protects the Bill from being subjected to rigid constitutional timelines, especially in relation to the creation of the new constituencies. It will not be up to the IEBC to ensure that those boundaries are drawn up immediately and prepare for the election.

Parliament, if able to pass the Bill in the next two weeks and forward it to the President, could ensure that the plebiscite happens 90 days thereafter. This will help ensure that the country is ready to prepare for the next election adequately as per the new provisions.

Last week, President Uhuru Kenyatta set the stage for the selection of four commissioners to ensure that the IEBC is fully constituted. This will ensure that commission has no excuse in executing the BBI recommendation.

The IEBC must ensure that it can conduct the referendum within the stipulated period. And while at it ensure that we have reformed the commission to deal with the inadequacies that arose in the last election.

If we do not reform the IEBC, we are opening ourselves to unending political struggles at the 2022 election as well as the upcoming boundaries review. We must use any upcoming referendum to ensure that we strengthen and streamline the IEBC ahead of those two events.

We must implore the courts to read the mood of the country and ensure that the voice of the voters is heard by dropping the cases. The cases in court are mostly based on nuisance and not challenging the legal facts of the current constitutional amendment process.

Over the last nine years, we have seen what is working and what is not, which should be the basis for the referendum everyone is asking for. While we are mostly focused on the Executive, which is more about sharing political power, we have given little focus on the institutions that serve all Kenyans.