Faiza,
It is only the Lawyers who play with words to suit the better side of the bread that has butter. But as for us, we ought to respect our Constitution and never behave like Lawyers who get hired even to defend an outright lie.
The first item in Chapter 1 of our Constitution reads as follows;
1. (1) All sovereign power belongs to the people of Kenya and shall be exercised
only in accordance with this Constitution.
We are then given direct authority at Article 1:4 in the following manner;
(4) The sovereign power of the people is exercised at—
(a) the national level; and
(b) the county level.
This means, from the word go, County Governance has her place in our Constitution. This means, Kenya is not a Unitary State anymore.
The Constitution becomes fairly more clearer at Article 2 in the following manner;
2. (1) This Constitution is the supreme law of the Republic and binds all persons
and all State organs at both levels of government.
If you go further down at Chapter 11, this is what you meet amongst other provisions;
Objects of devolution
174. The objects of the devolution of government are—
(a) to promote democratic and accountable exercise of power;
(b) to foster national unity by recognising diversity;
(c) to give powers of self-governance to the people and enhance the
participation of the people in the exercise of the powers of the State
and in making decisions affecting them;
Again at Article 175, you come across this;
Principles of devolved government
175. County governments established under this Constitution shall reflect the
following principles––
(a) county governments shall be based on democratic principles and the
separation of powers;
(b) county governments shall have reliable sources of revenue to enable
them to govern and deliver services effectively;
Article 176 then becomes absolutely categorical;
County governments
176. (1) There shall be a county government for each county, consisting of a county
assembly and a county executive.
(2) Every county government shall decentralise its functions and the provision
of its services to the extent that it is efficient and practicable to do so.
To cap all this, Article 259 invites us to the following;
Construing this Constitution
259. (1) This Constitution shall be interpreted in a manner that—
(a) promotes its purposes, values and principles;
Lastly, the First Schedule delineates the 47 Counties by Name.
We are then left with the question, what did His Excellency the President mean when he talked about Kenya being a Unitary State? Are we being prepared for devolution of the Devolved Governance?
Or, is someone playing us the kind of games we have been played since 1963?
I know we have come full circle and all we agitated for in the reform process has come a cropper. I also know that we have now been saddled with a new leadership, and basically, it does not matter how you voted, we have some new Sheriffs in Town, and it would be sad if we can resort to the tyranny of numbers to kill a People's Process.
The ball is in our courts and Mr. President has given us a hint.
Odhiambo T Oketch
Komarocks Nairobi
--- On Tue, 4/2/13, Faiza Hassan <antihongo@gmail.com> wrote:
From: Faiza Hassan <antihongo@gmail.com>
Subject: [africa-oped] Is Kenya a Unitary State OR Majimbo?
To: "progressive-kenyans" <progressive-kenyans@googlegroups.com>, "Kiswahili Yahoo" <kiswahili@yahoogroups.com>, "uchunguzi online" <uchunguzionline@yahoogroups.com>, "vuguvugumashinani" <vuguvugumashinani@yahoogroups.com>, "KOL" <kenyaonline@yahoogroups.com>, "Africa Oped" <africa-oped@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Tuesday, April 2, 2013, 10:41 PM
Kibaki said despite devolution of political power to Counties Kenya remain
a unitary State. Charles Nyachae Chairman of CIC and a member Professor
Peter Wanyande disagree and said President sentiment was wrong "The framer
of the constitution had they intended, would have said that Kenya is a
unitary state" Peter Wanyande said nowhere in the constitution does it say
that Kenya is a unitary state. It is important for Kenyans and leaders to
know this. Elsewhere Issac Ruto a Governor was quoted saying that there are
47 government. With this scenerio and remarks by the head of state will
county government survive of the incoming power will starve it financially
so that it collapse the way first majimbo government was stranguled by Jomo
Kenyatta.
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