The proposed constitution has passed the referendum stage and we applaud our brothers and sisters for voting in a civil and orderly manner. The work ahead of us is the implementation. It will be a hard upward journey given the radical proposals contained in the new constitution such as the new demarcations that will reshape the country into new governing units. In order to enforce the new constitution, various committees will be formed to push the implementation agenda forward. Story found HERE. The time line given is five years for full implementation which will take us well past the general elections of 2012. Some of the caveats will have to be functional before the elections such as the new wards (officials to be known as Assembly men and women instead of Councilors) and counties which will replace the provinces.
In my view, this constitution will be very expensive to implement, with the only immediate beneficiaries being the officials in the various implementation committees. The other longer term beneficiaries will be the holders of the purse strings when the devolution funds are released. As for the ordinary mwanainchi (regular citizen, man on the street), I predict a dismal and bleak future if we are to rely on this constitution to bring us any meaningful tangible progress. My dire prognosis is based on the hurried jostling by greedy politicians for inclusion in the various implementation committees for the lucrative allowances. I predict these committees will stretch their mandate as far as possible in order to milk the public coffers beyond their required time.
When the euphoria of this new constitution has dissipated, the millions of Kenyans just getting by will go back to their dreary existence while awaiting government progress that will probably not materialize in this lifetime. We do have viable options though.
Citizens United for Progress (C.U.P)
The above name will be one of our initiatives but locals are free to pick any name, the idea here is what is important.
This will be a grouping of local citizens, known to each other either through friendship, need or just banded together as neighbors. Their task will be to implement self help projects in their neighborhoods that will have an immediate impact on their day to day lives. Examples abound but they will be peculiar to specific localities. A previous article we did about neighborhood organizations can be found HERE.
‘Revolution’ through the ballot
If, as many Kenyans insist, progress has to come from the government, then we will definitely need a new set of leaders at the next General Election. In the premiere article of this blog we tackled the issue of what qualities a good leader ought to have. Here we will briefly reiterate what was previously said by posing a set of questions that may help guide the voter to make an informed decision come election time.
-Is the voter better off now as compared to the time their local government official was elected into office?
-Are there tangible public projects the official has initiated and followed through to completion that directly impact the voter?
-Will the prospective candidate’s record on matters affecting public issues be able to stand to scrutiny? Did they speak out when their fellow legislators adopted a stand that the rest of the country did not agree with? An example here would be the attempt by parliament for members to increase their pay to exorbitant amounts.
-How assessable is the official to the average voter? What is the response time if one were to inquire for information or assistance?
-What development ideas, concisely presented, does the candidate have when he comes vote hunting?
-What plans does the candidate have for including the voter in future development plans? For my part I intend to engage the citizenry in a form of participatory democracy where regular town hall style meetings will be held together with individual and interest group meetings held regularly. More details to be released after the registration of our party.
Conclusion
We as Kenyans have always been imbued with endless optimism even in the bleakest of times. It would be our wish that we use this state of euphoria we are enjoying to be vigilant, demanding and relentless as to the speedy implementation of this new constitution. The political class should not be allowed to use our goodwill to prolong, derail or skew the process of implementation in their favor.
Between now and the next General Elections, we need to seriously think about how we as individuals can help the country move forward economically and socially. Do we retain the old guard that will continue to fatten both belly and bank account on misappropriated public funds? Or do we pick someone with no corruption record and brimming with ideas on how to develop our nation?
Reader responses welcome.
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