"If it ain't broke, don't fix it", the saying goes. Under the 2010 Constitution, Presidents serve a maximum of two five-year terms and that seems to have been working well enough.
Now, in a submission to the National Dialogue Committee, Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei has proposed two terms of seven years each for the President to "allow stability and pragmatic development in the country."
This is not a good idea. Firstly, it could come with a 'reset' of the Constitution so that the two seven-year terms start in 2027, allowing President Ruto to stay in power until 2041.
Of course, any President still has to win election but the incumbent always has a huge built-in advantage. We have seen this in Uganda where President Museveni keeps winning elections after Parliament removed term limits in 2006.
In 1951 in the USA, the constitution was changed to allow two four-year terms only after President FD Roosevelt was elected four times. There is nothing wrong with two five-year terms which still give plenty of time to implement policy changes.
President Ruto should distance himself from proposals to extend presidential terms of office. They can discredit him and his followers.
Quote of the day: "Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized."
Albert Einstein
The German physicist published his theory of relativity on September 26, 1905
