ROAD TO NEW CONSTITUTION ALREADY TRAPPED IN POLITICS

The Parliamentary Select Committee on the Constitution review process meets on Monday a divided team. With deep rooted divisions that now make it clear that the team entrusted with the task of delivering the country a new constitution may just be caught in the same trap that frustrated Kenya’s clamor for a new law in 2005: raw ethno- regional politics!
While the committee had seemingly unanimously agreed on the list that had Cecil Miller nominated as the Interim Independent Electoral commission chairman alongside 8 other commissioners representing each of the countries 8 provinces, a section of the PSC members turned on the list in parliament and vehemently pushed for its rejection by the house.
What changed between the PSC’s last meeting on Wednesday evening and the reports presentation before the house on Thursday. If arguments from the debate on the floor of the hosue are anything to go by, the members were now privy of fresh information, previously not available to them: namely: that Cecil Miller Junior had acted as Garsen MP Danson Mungatana’s advocate in an election petition lodged against him early last year and was also acting on behalf yet another politician in an ongoing petition. Secondly The man picked to represent Coast Province, one Suleiman Buko had served as deputy presiding officer in Garsen during the 2007 elections. The third argument sensationally pelted out in the heat of acrimonious debate was that Cecil Miller is apparently a wife batterer.
Its has however since been established that beyond this arguments were high stakes political interests that were the actual basis of the tussle. If Garsen MP Danson Mungatana is to be believed, ODM MPs , especially from Nyanza Province led the way in rejecting the report for one reason alone: they did not have one of their own on the all important commission. The man picked to represent the Province a Mr. Ken Nyaudi is from the Kisii region of the province- a position apparently not acceptable to the MPs from Luo Nyanza and according to Mungatana – not acceptable to Prime Minister Raila Odinga who wields immense influence over the regions politics.
While the merits of the arguments and allegations made both inside and outside parliament are subject to confirmation, the full effect of these allegations is to throw the constitutional review and electoral reforms process off the steady road of public confidence right into the murky waters of tribal suspicions and parochial divisive politics. It is my considered opinion(I would hope to be proved wrong) that regardless of who the PSC selects to serve on the IIECK, any such nominee will from now hence forth be viewed through both a tribal and political perspective. I would not be shocked if the section of the PSC that backed Miller for the top job, dig up a litany of scandals- both real and perceived- to disparage the character of whoever is picked to replace him. It will be difficult to make any progress should the seed of politics planted into this process is allowed to grow and influence the process.
While nominated MP Milly Odhiambo may have had good intentions in her allegations against Miller this move was not only an abuse of parliamentary privilege but also an ill advised precedence setting error. While it is important that anyone aspiring for high office be subjected to intense scrutiny, it is wrong to make such allegations on a platform where the subject is not allowed an equal chance to respond or defend themselves. Thanks to parliamentary Privilege Cecil Miller cannot even go to court in pursuit of legal redress over the allegations he may consider defamatory. It also sets a bad precedent, I will not be shocked if during the next debate on nominees an Mp opposed to the nominee in question shouts allegations that are much worse than wife battering and believe you me there is no limit to how far they can go!
Parliament must consider a clear system that enables members not only play their watch dog role, but also protects crucial processes from the trap of negative ethnicity and dirty divisive politics.