On the 27th August 2010, Kenyans passed a new constitution in a historic referendum , the first such in our independence history. With the mechanisms for the implementation of the constitution now being put in place, we look forward to a new electoral system to be in place by August 2012, when we shall elect a new President, Senators and Members of Parliament the same day. There will also be a new devolved system of government at county level where we shall be expected to elect Governors. However, what I find exciting and most significant, which seems to have escaped the attention of some of us, is that for the first time, we shall elect a new government devoid of any colonial-era institutional memory, where the new office bearers, are unlikely to suffer any colonial era nostalgia or hangovers for that matter. This obviously be partly due to natural attrition where those who served the colonial government will have passed on or if still around may be too arthritic to participate in the expected energy sapping campaigns. Therefore, we shall have no colonial-era soldiers, administrators, chiefs, civil servants, politicians and therefore no fond memories for having participated in the hunt for Mau Mau "terrorists"! Isn't this exciting and worth celebrating by all Kenyans of goodwill? I can't wait to pop out that champagne bottle!
let's start with the presidency. When you look at the main parties, that is PNU and ODM, which are the most likely to produce the top presidential candidate contender, you will notice that none of them is headed by a leader from the colonial era. Therefore, it's most unlikely that they will be unwise to go back to their old files to fetch out the name of a grizzled octogenarian, to front as their presidential candidate, when within their ranks, there are plenty of young people with tons of cash and king-size political egos to boot. So, in all certainty, we are likely to elect an under 70 year old as our next president and most likely among those who started earning their first salaries under the Keyatta or Moi regime.
The new president will have to nominate about two dozen professionals to help him run the government as cabinet secretaries but most importantly, they have to be sell-able so as to muster the scrutiny and vetting of the 300 or so MPs. You can bet therefore that the majority of these nominees will have to be within the 35-50 age bracket with a sizable number having been born after independence to make them acceptable. That in itself will give us a government without any pretensions or hangovers of what they did or didn't do under the patronage of the colonialists.
It's expected that by the time we go for the elections in August 2012, the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague through it's able prosecutor, Luis Morenp-Ocampo, will have done it's work by helping us clean up the mess of 2007 post-election violence by indicting those political sadists and marionettes who gave us a bad name. In this respect, we shall have known all about peddlers of impunity who have used their immense wealth before to foment mayhem, commit crimes and corruptly bribe people to do their dirty jobs. This means that we shall be wary of any leaders that we suspect of dirty dealing and thereby chose MPs and Senators wisely. During election campaigns, it's likely that we shall listen to them more keenly and interrogate their subtle intentions rather than take bribes and vote gullibly as was the case before. As citizens, we shall be all the more wiser because Moreno-Ocampo will have shown us that nobody is mighty before just laws regardless of their status, station in life, pedigree, wealth, oratory, constituency, etc. And even more pertinently, because some political parties would have been rattled by the new developments, it's unlikely that they will regroup fast enough to come up with alternative plans to stop us from voting only reformers in the new government.
It's expected that the new police service will slowly be taking shape and will have new faces and fresh ideas to serve us in the detection, prevention of crime and enforcement of laws. Those within their ranks who earned undeserved medals as sadists for torturing reformers in Nyayo House will either be out through natural attrition or retired in public interest. The same axe will befall those burly voyeurs who derive their satisfaction by arresting female political activists and abusing them by invading their privacy. Those among them including their commanders who have interfered with the electoral process before by posting officers under them as election agents will have to go.
With the reinforced judiciary, without the current top office holders, electoral offenses and petitions will be expedited and disposed off expeditiously without giving undue advantage to those who believe in reaping other peoples shambas.
The provincial administration, as we know it, with their dreaded Chiefs Authority Act will be no more in 2012 and for the first time since independence, we shall have the Independent Electoral Commission fully in charge without them looking over their shoulders because they will have full authority and unfettered powers to conduct free and fair elections. The provincial administration will be neutered even if their remnants may still want to remain relevant.
Influence peddlers (aka Grrigori Rasputins) will be an endangered species and their days will be numbered because political parties and citizens will be fully alert and willing to report their underground and undesired activities to the electoral commission. No matter what these peddlers may want to push, no political party would want to risk by nominating unelectable candidates in such competitive elections where numbers in the House will matter for their very survival. I think 2012 elections will mark a new dawn for this country as it will provide a watershed on how a nation can get out of the mire of ignominy and ineptitude of bad leadership by electing a new crop of visionary leaders in free and fair elections. The colonial-era influence peddlers will be buried in history as we start a new journey to a prosperous future devoid of corruption. It will give us a chance to elect corrupt-free lawmakers and leaders who will help in the introduction and crafting new laws to rein in corruption and give us a renewed momentum to look into the future without fear, mistrust and hopelessness. That will indeed be the beginning of a new era!
No comments:
Post a Comment