African Studies Repository βeta

Sign in:

Username:

Password:

Remember my details:

---

forgotten your password?

---

Not a member?
Register here

Menu:

Home

About

Latest News

---

Find users

Latest articles

---

Have your say

Links

Tags for this article:

land tenure
elections
Kenya

Main Article:

The failure of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and his supporters in the ‘banana’ camp to push through the Wako draft of the proposed new Kenyan constitution has been hailed by many as a vote of no confidence in the President. Even some of those who supported the President’s campaign have been critical of his actions since. In sacking the exiting government and appointing a cabinet without consulting those appointed, his actions were virtually calculated to produce the walkout that materialised. Even the Chief Whip, Norman Nyaga, admitted that the walkout was inevitable: blaming misleading advice from political advisors, he expressed fears at the departure of ‘MPs commanding genuine grassroots support’. The latter comment is perhaps a reference to former Roads Minister Raila Odinga, who originally supported the new constitution, under which he would have held the newly-created post of Prime Minister. Raila switched to the ‘No’ campaign, represented by oranges when he realised that the draft constitution would have invested more executive power in the office of the President rather than in that of the Prime Minister. Raila has a strong following among the younger and less well-off members of Kenyan society, particularly among the Luo, his own tribe, and the defeat of the constitution can be regarded as a victory for him as well as a defeat for Kibaki.

Raila Odinga was one of 21 MPs and assistant ministers who walked out of the new cabinet, alongside Charity Ngilu of the National Party of Kenya, the Liberal Democratic Party's Orwa Ojode, and Musikari Kombo, chairman of Ford-Kenya. As a political reporter noted ‘People have realised that the president is not popular, and for them to reject cabinet posts at this time is likely to earn them popularity with the masses’. President Kibaki has since persuaded Ngilu and Ojode to rejoin the cabinet, and others may follow. However, the LDP, seven of whose ministers were excluded from the new cabinet are less likely to comply, as are Raila’s supporters. Those who remain on the cabinet have also caused discontent among Kenyans: rather than renewing his commitment to tackle corruption by removing those implicated in scandals such as the Anglo Leasing affair, President Kibaki retained most of those involved.

It is noticable that most of the wrangling around the constitution and the fall-out from its defeat has focused around the people involved rather than the issues that the new constitution should have addressed. As well as the rivalry between Kibaki and Odinga and the jockeying for public support of other politicians, much of the voting took place along tribal lines. Prof Wangari Maathai, head of the Ford-Kenya party, called for the President to negiotiate before cementing the shape of his new cabinet as ‘we do not want to divide Kenyans along ethnic lines. Let it not be felt that we have left out the Luos because Raila Odinga is not there or that we have left out the Kambas because Kalonzo Musyoka is not with them’. This highlights an issue which the proposed constitution should have helped to solve. The draft contained proposals for setting up a commission to deal with land redistribution. Crucially, this proposal would have removed the ability of politicians to dish out land to their cronies in reward for votes and support. In a country where land is all important and much disputed, this innovation would have removed one of the major reasons why people look to individual politicians, often those of their tribe or region, to distribute patronage, often in the form of land. As well as reducing the potential for corruption, this would remove the tendancy for constitutional questions to degenerate into personality contests: Kenyans would be able to vote on issues rather than for those politicians most able to protect their own interests. To achieve this, crucial issues such as land must be resolved separately from the issue of the location of power in the government. As Norman Nyaga remarked: ‘We need to revive talks on the new constitution urgently. Kenyans did not say they don't want a constitution. They simply said they did not want what was offered in the Draft’.