At one point in time, we were, it seems, heading towards a parliamentary system.
From the one Miguna:
It was in the course of the Harambee
House negotiations where these documents
were tabled that Raila dropped the ball. As
people were debating and discussing, Raila
suddenly said: “Your Excellency, I have a
suggestion to make. I’m not sure if the
suggestion will be accepted or rejected, but
I get the feeling that we are not making
progress. What would the PNU team’s
response be if we, the ODM side, suggested
that we adopt a pure presidential
system?”
Raila finished and fiddled with his pen. There was complete silence. Everyone was shocked. Uhuru was the first to recover
and he said: “Your Excellency maybe our
side need time to consult briefly before we
can comment on the suggestion. But for
the record, the PNU team appreciates the
ODM’s realisation that the presidential
system is best for this country.”
“OK, OK. We can break for a few
minutes,” the President said. The President
and his PNU team left the room. The ODM
team talked in hushed tones, mostly
agreeing with Raila. I held my tongue
briefly. I knew that Raila had betrayed us
again. When the PNU team returned, they
stated that they were grateful for ODM’s
climb-down and would support the
decision. Raila, Mudavadi, Ngilu, Mutakha
and I then proceeded to his Treasury
Building office for a prognosis. And it was
there that Raila really shocked me. As soon
as we sat down and started discussions,
with Mutakha and I pointing out the
“difficulties we will face trying to convince
our people to support a presidential
system that had all along been identified
with the PNU team and which ODM had
criticised before,”
Raila became agitated and growled:
“Miguna, you can’t win all the time; ok?
Henry [Kosgey] complained to me that you
were rude to him the other day. In your
so-called classical examples, you had
removed all power from the President and
gave it over to the Prime Minister. This is
an elected President, yet he has no power.
Leave this to politicians…We will explain
the decision to the people.” Raila was
clearly angry with me
Does it really matter when Kenyans are hell bent on electing the same incompetent, thieving fools every 5 years and then they start complaining and whining for those 5 years. Kenyans get the leadership they deserve.
Institutions are about tradition and strong pillars that are meant to out live the office bearers, who are meant to respect them and leave them better than they found them.
Does this guarantee any future stability at all? Is there any nation or kingdom in history that has survived, say at least five generations of bequeathed rulership, where everyone was happy, and important ideals upheld? I think we have laws and systems for a reason - people are fickle and we cannot entrust our collective well-being on the goodwill of some individual
Ile time ya Moi and Kibaki before the nusu mkate everything was okay, the person who lost in the presidential elections still played a significant role in the building of the nation as the leader of the opposition.
This winner takes all system isn`t ideal, because its increasing tribalism in Kenya through politicians having to form tribal alliances so that they can achieve the 50% + 1 minimum requirement. As long as we have the current system Kenyans will still vote along tribal lines in all future elections and we will be building our tribal fortresses every 5 years.
I think your worry is continuity and the fallacy of having a disillusioned freedom, you will be shocked to find that people in dictatorship work harder and uphold the rule of law more than in a democracy