Good People,

I think the draft is brilliant in some ways but fails miserabley in others. e.g the ones pointed out by BAAK and Why does the draft impose equity distribution of parliamentary seats eti no one gender shall have more than 2/3 of the seats ( Article 139(j/k). What happens if all who are elected are men or women? do we create more seats or ask some others to step down?

Why should I queue for six hours to vote for a ceremonial guy and leave my alienable right to some MP's?

I do not think our current constitution is the problem,Our leaders Are!!! Let us sort them!

Radical departure from where we are is probably ill advised.

All we need is some nice panel beating of what we already have.

Seal all the loopholes to check if not stamp out abuse.

But a labourious overhaul as suggested by CoE?


An eye for an eye will leave the nation blind

Hello everyone,

I want to congratulate the COE for coming up with a draft constitution,I don't like many things in it,including the power sharing in the executive,too many MPigs etc. but I like what they have attempted to address; too much powers in the executive.

This is an opportunity for kenyans to improve it not critisize it.

@BAAK

Why don't you look at the draft objectively,I completely agree with your opinion regarding the co-sharing of power between president and prime minister. I think we should have one of either. But you are being dishonest when you say that a prime minister elected by majority parliamentarians has not been elected by the people,please leave this kind of rubbish to the MPIGS. In the world,the countries that elect their leaders this way include; US-electoral college (otherwise Al Gore would have been president),SA (and call him a president),Britain,Germany,India,Japan,israel,Canada,Australia. Infact there is not a single major and successful democracy that directly elects its president/primeminister (leader). The presidency or prime ministerial post in Kenya does not belong to specific persons or communities,they are dynamic offices that belong to all kenyans and which we will determine who occupies every 5 years.

All countries in the world have devolution or some sought of local government that is directly responsible for the day to day welfare of the people. In Kenya today,we have insecurity simply because the Minister of Internal security creates policy and then implements them leaving no room for review. If the people of Muranga had the police from amongst themselves,they would easily manage the Mungiki because they know who they are,but in the current set up,the police boss coming from the other end of the country will not care much about Murang'a and Mungiki and will preferably choose to save his own skin by looking the other way. The same applies to education,let whoever the educ minister is come up with a sylabus but leave the running of schools to parents,we are not idiots and we are not asking for ministerial seats,we just want to participate in the running of schools where our children study,thats devolution.

This draft has attempted to address the concerns of Kenyans rather poorly but for me even in its current state its 100% better then the current constitution.



I've noticed the youth in particular coming in to a workplace with a completely outsized notion of their own value and importance... just a thinly-veiled arrogance. May be the credit crunch induced recession is whats needed to remind us all about the value of hard work.... By Anonymous

BAAK,my thinking exactly. I have a lot to say about this draft but its looking like it is a waste of time and energy to say anything. The die is cast. I am getting this feeling that the country,like sheep,is being herded towards a certain direction. It matters little what you say. I saw one of the members of the COE on TV and goodness gracious great almighty,she is opinionated! You will not change her mind. Then the newspapers- the standard has created imaginary powers of the president etc. and one cannot fail to notice they are generally painting a very good picture of the whole draft. I am waiting for the referendum.

Obi,



On PM/President- unfortunately the distribution of constituencies is skewed,thanks to former President Moi. So if we say that leader of largest party to become PM,then,given our tribal leanings,the PM will forever come from Rift Valley or a region supported by rift valley Mps. Something not good for the rest of the country. This issue about boundary review and equalization of voters per constituency I don’t trust it,once the draft constitution is passed all manner of delay tactics & logistical problems could be employed to ensure it doesn’t work..



Equally I do not necessarily support direct vote by majority for president / pm per se as the big tribes will have an obvious advantage. To improve on the popular vote system,I believe there is and we need to search for a formula that takes into account popular vote,population density,geographical features of various regions,etc something like what they use in USA. This way the number of votes per region is weighted depending on these factors,so winning most votes shouldn’t be a guarantee that you have won…These people need to come up with a system such that any child born in the most remote village of this nation can also dream and realistically work towards being president,without being disadvantaged because of tribe / region.



On devolution,I find it intellectual fraud to tell us to support a system for which we do not know the associated cost & other implications,more-so security & corruption. What’s so difficult with CoE (supported by other arms of govt such as KRA & MoF) doing a case study in say two counties in every region – Tabulate estimated cost of sustaining proposed county govt against projected income….If it can be demonstrated (with real figures) that each county will have a surplus income after meeting all costs of the county govt,security will improve even after withdrawal of provincial administration & corruption will decrease,I will embrace the devolved system without any further ado.



But remember,the reason why laymen have advocated for Majimbo ever since 1963 is that there has been ill-advised belief that the big tribes have dominated the small ones,so by embracing majimbo,the streetwise understanding by the supporters of the system is that 'they will be able to eat what is theirs alone,without any external interference'. Any one Kenyan who denies this in public or otherwise is not being real. If we introduce Majimbo carelessly without proper analysis and correcting this wrong streetwise mindset,we will be putting so much at stake.



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