Oliver Mathenge
9 November 2009
Nairobi — The proposed constitution provides for an executive prime minister, a two-chamber parliament and devolution, according to a working draft seen by the Daily Nation.
In a sign of hope for reforms, the Committee of Experts has substantially finished writing the new constitution and is fine-tuning it in readiness for publication this week.
On Monday, Attorney-General Amos Wako was in meetings with the committee and therefore changes may be made to the draft reported here.
The draft proposes a radical overhaul of the way the country is governed. It proposes a majimbo system with governments at the national, provincial and country levels.
The national government will be made up of two houses of parliament and an executive consisting of the State President, Prime Minister and the Cabinet.
The draft will propose a powerful executive prime minister who will play the roles now assigned to the President in the current Constitution.
However, the prime minister will not be the head of state, chairman of the national security committee and the commander-in-chief, roles which will continue to be played by the president.
The prime minister is not elected directly by the people, rather, he is picked by MPs from amongst themselves.
The proposed draft constitution scheduled for publishing this week is promising to radically alter governance in Kenya.
The Cabinet will be made up of a maximum of 20 ministers, all nominated by the prime minister and appointed by the president.
The prime minister, who will be in charge of the running of the government, will have leeway to appoint up to half of his Cabinet from outside parliament.
The proposal effectively transfers executive authority from the presidency to a prime minister, who will be the leader of the party with the most MPs.
The president, who retains some powers, will still have to be popularly elected, and must get more than 50 per cent of the national vote in addition to 25 per cent of the vote in at least five provinces.
The president will still have the power to appoint public officials, but in consultation with the prime minister and at times with the authorisation of parliament.
The president will not be an MP and will not sit in the Cabinet. But he or she will remain the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces and have the power to sign Bills into law.
In an interesting innovation, the president will be able to send Bills to parliament for enacting into law. But he or she will also be able to choose to send such Bills directly to the people, who can adopt them into law through a referendum and with no input from parliament.
The Head of State will still dissolve parliament but it will just be a formality at the end of the legislative term or if the government falls through a vote of no confidence. Parliament will have its own calendar fixed in law and the president will be stripped of his power to dissolve it at will.
The draft provides for a system of devolution based on 14 regional assemblies and 70 county governments that will be headed by governors. Other than the Nairobi Metropolitan, governed by a popularly elected mayor, the other 13 regions will have between three and nine counties.
The country will have two houses -- the Senate and National Assembly -- and will also have regional governments which will replace the Provincial Administration.
The new law requires that no gender should occupy two-thirds of the seats in the National Assembly.
Elected members
In the Senate, every county will have a representative while every region will elect two women. One person to represent either the youth or persons with disabilities will be elected from every region. In total, the document proposes a senate of 113 members including a speaker, who will be an ex-officio member.
Other than the elected members representing constituencies, 70 seats will be reserved for women in the national assembly. There will also be seven members representing marginalised groups and a similar number representing persons with disabilities.
If the current number of constituencies is retained, the national assembly, according to the draft will have 295 MPs, including a speaker. The new parliament will therefore have a total of 406 representatives and two speakers.
On devolution, the new draft improves on the Bomas and Kilifi drafts by providing clearer provisions on relations between the central and regional governments, particularly on matters of taxation and jurisdiction of relevant institutions.
The county governments will deal with the socio-economic issues affecting the areas but shall have to be consulted by the regional governments.
The national government will deal more with formulating policy and leave the implementation to the regions and the counties.
The draft wants major changes in the Judiciary, with all judges required to step down when the new constitution comes into force. They will only be reappointed if they are cleared of corruption.
The draft has also retained the Islamic kadhi courts as currently constituted.
The new constitution will also allow for dual citizenship and sets up a commission for resource allocation.
The draft will now be published, then taken to Parliament and subjected to a referendum next year.
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Ethiopia : Japan & Ethiopia Sign Agreement For Water Development
QUESTIONS :
What’s In This For Japan ? What’s In This For Ethiopia ?
Will Ethiopia Be In Control Of Its Resources ?
Beware of the Global Organizations that want to control your everyday lives. In the
1970s America’s farmers made the mistake of taking welfare (subsidies, loans, etc..)
from their bankers. Now only a few farmers are left. Americans rarely grow their own
food. Africans can learn from the mistakes of others. Develop local coops between
growers, sellers and buyers. Never give up your sovereignty to anyone.
Jesus Christ said Take precautions against being deceived or trick. (paraphrased from
Matthew 24).
WHO WE ARE ON THE WORLD’S STAGE.
1) Each African country is like a separate neighborhood in the world community. And each African country is responsible for running their own neighborhood.
2) Each State within those African neighborhoods (countries) are like houses in their own African neighborhood (country). And each of these States within their unique African neighborhood is responsible for their house in their African neighborhood.
3) Each city within their unique African state’s House is like a family living in their area of their African state House.
4) Each individual person living in their city is a cell of the Body of Adam ; with a free will and a unique purpose that only that person can fulfill. The contest isn’t won by the fast or strong, but those who never quit will win. Those who take a chance to win, when they have the opportunity to win, will win !!! The contest isn’t won by the fast or strong, but those who never quit will win. Those who take a chance to win, when they have the opportunity to win, will win !!!
CONCLUSION
a) Each of us are responsible for our own lives.
b) Yet each of us are cells in the Body of Adam . Each of us cells are going through a stage of existence where we will either develop into fruitful cells that reproduce . Or we will become diseased cells that will feed on and corrupt the healthy part of the Body. That is why it’s important for us to also be team players ; for the Body’s sake. * When we pray we say OUR FATHER…. Not my Father…GIVE US..not give me.
c) Governments are like organs & systems of the body. Managing the teams of the Body. God the Creator of All is the Architect and Designer of All that is . He alone knows how to run the Government. Isaiah 9:6 “…The GOVERNMENT shall be on HIS (Jesus Christ) shoulders , not man .
d) Man has tried and tried to play God. The most famous instance was when Nimrod and all the inhabitants of the earth tried to build a tower (The Tower of Babylon) to Heaven – see Genesis 10. Africa is no stranger to being used to bring the world together as one. Remember “We Are The World “ ?
e) Governments are under God’s direction. We who are God’s children should follow his guidance. Any governments that exist today and / or movements should be under God’s guidance.
f) People maintain your freedom and don’t give them an inch , ever!!!! Don’t forget Achebe’s book "Things Fall Apart " .
• First the Pastors Came
• Then The Commissioners Came
• Then The Governor & The Troops Came And The People Paid These Outsiders
Taxes On Their Own Lands
• Next Many People Were Forced Off Their Lands ; While Persons Like Cecil Rhodes, (AND) Businesses like DeBeers got filthy rich from robbing us of our wealth.
• And all of these African Tragedies didn’t even mention the Slave Trade that has weakened Africa to this day.
g) Achebe’s book is at work again .
• The pastors of agricultural commodities are disguised as things like Private Enterprises. Many individual African countries may have Private Enterprises NOW.
• WHAT ARE THEIR FUTURE PLANS ?
• In Achebe’s book after the pastors , came the commissioners. The agricultural commodities commissioners could be the New Laws & Regulations designed to condition the people depend on others instead of their own God-given talent .
• The ultimate goal of evil is to trick righteous people into being evil. This is done by either fear, lust, or pride temptations. Evil attempts to get righteous people to get rid of their conscious. Some have sold their souls. Please pray for our leaders and each other.
* Zimbabwe: WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION ....CONTROLS !!! THE WATER
ZIMBABWE and other countries should control their own resources. One thing I like about President Mugabe is that he is not allowing that colonialism to continue in Zimbabwe.
1) Do you Africans remember people like Cecil Rhodes ?
Rhodesia was what Zimbabwe was called.
2) How about that bloody absentee demon-directed King Leopold II ?
" King Leopold's Ghost " (1998) Adam Hochschild - this book is very informative and enlightening about a wide spectrum of historical views of what the Congo and other oppressed lands are and have gone through.
The Swine Flu Vaccination Hoax - Explained URL – [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbFxV_C8Yw4 ]
[Check Out :
3) Who Brought The Slaves To America ? URL = [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuzhnKy63io ] Or [http://wideeyecinema.com/?p=911]
WAKE UP !!! STAY UP !!!
[ libradio.net ]
[http://www.infowars.com/infowars.asx]
[gcnlive.com]
Life Is A Game. Have Fun . Luke 18:17 - Isaiah 11:6
The draft constitution should be changed pertaining the issues of the selection of the prime minister.The prime minister should be directly elected by the public and not the members of parliament.In addition the president and the prime minister should have equal powers.
The error for imperial president is gone, this is the system which promoted dictatorship, impunity and corruption since independence but Kenyans has woken-up to oppose any form of such like systems and to support the devolved power system which is composed in the harmonized draft, i urge Kenyans to read and understand the whole document the same way i have done it and pass a positive verdict on it.
To all my fellow country men i.e Kenyaans I urge you all to wake up and stop listening to misleading utterances from our MPs who have really gone into tribal cocoons at their own benefit.The time is now for us to give ouselves a new constitution.Lets do not support our fellow MPs but vote for the new constitution which will end the 40yrs of impunity.No single leader will save Kenya except a good constitution which will ensure equal distribution of resources irrespective of your tribe.Kenya has become a countey of who do you know and what do you have.If your father was poor you become poorer no matter how hard you work.
DANIEL ODERO ODINYA JARAGENGNI.
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Active Discussions: Kenyan Lawmakers Propose New Constitution