Ottawa, Canada—January 26, 2008--Coalition for Constitutional Reforms (CCR-Kenya) has called for a transitional government in Kenya, whose main task would be to complete the constitutional reforms and organize fresh elections in one year.
In a letter addressed to Hon. Mwai Kibaki, Hon. Raila Odinga, and copied to Mr. Kofi Annan, the reform group argues that the problem facing Kenya today is not caused by defects in electoral laws per se, but by non-transparent, and un-fettered maximum powers that are bestowed on the office of the president.
"To create a lasting solution to the ongoing political crisis," the letter argues, "negotiations should lead to one and only one outcome: a transitional government with limited decision-making authority, and with a limited life span (maximum one year)."
The letter dismisses the power-sharing option as a solution. "Having seen a coalition in action (NARC 2003-2005 and GNU, post referendum period), CCR-Kenya is very concerned that the same power plays that derailed the constitutional reform process are going to be merely replayed in the 2008-2012 period," the letter says.
The result would be that Kenya approaches another election in 2012 under the same old constitution that led us to this mess in the first place. CCR-Kenya greatly fears that "next time, we may indeed go the 'Rwanda way' that Kenyans have been talking about. It would be very reckless and unpatriotic for anybody to support the notion that we should go to another election under the present constitution."
The group also dismisses a rerun without reducing presidential powers as a cosmetic approach, which, "may leave the roots of the problem intact, waiting to sprout another day."
They call on the actors to seize on the opportunity to establish fundamental change.
"For us to usher in a new era of peace and prosperity, Kenya has to be born anew. Kenya is on a threshold, where it is calling for statesmen instead of just politicians, nationalists instead of tribalists, visionary leaders instead of managers of the status quo. The current events have presented us with a unique opportunity to seize the moment, vanquish procrastination, and embark on the most important task." It adds.
Wanyee Kinuthia, Tegi Obanda, Peter Kironyoh and Razia Mohamedali signed the letter.
CCR-Kenya proposes the establishment of a citizen's assembly in April 2008 to spearhead the completion of constitutional reforms by the end of the year. The Citizens Assembly will be launched on April 9-10, 2008.
The structure and agenda of the assembly will be discussed in a tele-forum scheduled for Saturday, March 1, 2008 from 5pm-7pm East Africa Time (+3hrs GMT).
These will be followed by The Way Forward forums in Washington DC (U.S), Ottawa (Canada), London (England), Stockholm (Sweden) and Nairobi (Kenya), between March 15-31, 2008.
They urge all concerned to step on the path that leads Kenya towards genuine democratic transformation.
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CCR-Kenya bring together organizations and individuals who believe that for Kenya to truly attain genuine democratic liberation, comprehensive constitutional reforms must be completed before any elections. Formed in March 2006, the coalition works to raise awareness to bring pressure on the ruling class to allow Kenyans to reform the constitution before another election. To read the CCR Roadmap for Constitutional Reforms, click: http://www.ccr- kenya.com. Under the slogan "No Reforms, No Elections", CCR-Kenya and affiliate organizations boycotted the 2007 general elections to highlight the danger of holding elections under the current elections.
The Letter
CCR-Kenya's Proposal To The Kenyan Negotiators
Coalition for Constitutional Reforms Kenya (CCR-Kenya)
P.O Box 4777-00200, Nairobi. Kenya
www.ccr-kenya.com
January 23, 2008
Hon. Kofi Annan
Nairobi, Kenya
Dear Hon. Annan:
A Proposal: Comprehensive Reforms Leading to Fresh Elections in One year
We write you at this tumultuous time in our history, hoping that we share the firm belief that Kenya will emerge from this crisis stronger, united, peaceful and democratic.
As (ODM and PNU) enter into the next phase of negotiations, we urge you to adopt a position that can lead to lasting peace, stability and genuine democratic transformation of our country.
Aware that several proposals have been put forward including a rerun of presidential election and power sharing, we wish to state that the political crisis that Kenya faces today goes well beyond defects in electoral practices. Indeed, as we all know, the December 2007 election went smoothly until the time of tallying. Thus the problem facing Kenya today is not caused by defects in electoral laws per se, but by what we can term non-transparent, and un-fettered maximum powers that is bestowed on the office of the president.
To create a lasting solution to the ongoing political crisis, negotiations should lead to one outcome: a transitional government with limited decision-making authority, and with a limited life span (maximum one year).
The transitional government should have one overarching mandate and responsibility, i.e. to put in place mechanisms for comprehensive constitutional reforms leading to a referendum in 10 months time. The referendum should be based on the Bomas Draft, and on contentious issues only. Parliament should automatically enact the new constitution based on the results of the referendum. The president must also assent to the new constitution automatically.
Fresh general elections should be held under the new constitution not later than January 31, 2009.
CCR-Kenya insists on constitutional reforms because the problem facing Kenya is serious, and can easily tear the country apart if nor dealt with in a comprehensive way. The problem calls for a total break from the past. Indeed, it calls for a reconstitution of our country in order to institutionalize transparency, accountability, participatory governance, devolution of power and free and fair elections. Nations which have gone through the birth pangs of democratization and epochal transformation, have ushered in new era only through thorough constitutional overhauls.
Kenya’s transition to democracy has remained incomplete because constitutional reform has remained incomplete. Yet we all know that no country has ever transformed itself through elections, while ignoring constitutional reforms.
Apartheid was officially ended with the enactment of the new constitution of South Africa in 1996. Had they been content with merely conducting elections under the old constitution, South Africans would still be living in apartheid until today.
The United States of America had declaration of independence backed by a democratic constitution in order to usher in a new nation. The founding fathers of that nation (John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Thomas Paine, George Washington etc) are remembered and revered till this day, not because they contested and won elections, but because they gave all their time, intellect, and resources towards the establishment of an enduring system that set their country on a sound and solid footing, a footing that remains strong till this day.
The same can be said of the Russian revolution of 1917, which was cemented by a new constitution. The French revolution of 1791 was not completed until the Napoleonic Code was enacted in 1804. The Code, with its stress on clearly written and accessible law, was a major step in establishing the rule of law. Historians have called it “one of the few documents which have influenced the whole world.”
In England, the issuing of the Magna Carta was a prime example of the “rule of law.” The Great Charter forced King John to submit to the law and succeeded in putting limits on feudal fees and duties.
Perhaps the most important application of the rule of law is the principle that governmental authority is legitimately exercised only in accordance with written, publicly disclosed laws adopted and enforced in accordance with established procedural steps that are referred to as due process. The principle is intended to be a safeguard against arbitrary governance, whether by a totalitarian leader or by mob rule. Thus, the rule of law is hostile both to dictatorship and to anarchy. Samuel Rutherford was one of the first modern authors to give the principle theoretical foundations, in Lex, Rex (1644), and later Montesquieu in The Spirit of the Laws (1748).
In continental Europe and legal thinking, the rule of law has frequently, but not always, been associated with a Rechtsstaat (“constitutional state”, a state in which the exercise of governmental power is constrained by the law). According to modern Anglo-American thinking, hallmarks of adherence to the rule of law commonly include a clear separation of powers, legal certainty, the principle of legitimate expectation and equality of all before the law.
For us to usher in a new era of peace and prosperity, Kenya has to be born anew. Kenya is on a threshold where it is calling for statesmen instead of just politicians, nationalists instead of tribalists, visionary leaders instead of managers of the status quo. The current events have presented us with a unique opportunity to seize the moment, vanquish procrastination and embark on the most important task.
The blood of Kenyan men, women and children of all ethnicities are flowing on the ground like water. We must truly identify the root cause of ethnic tensions, which goes back to the colonial alienation of natural resources, and which has caused mass poverty, environmental degradation, wars, conflicts, and pandemics. The right of indigenous people to take control of their natural resources (as recently enshrined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) ensures that have a say in the dispensation of their natural resources and “free prior and informed consent” must be entrenched in the constitution.
As Thomas Jefferson said in Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking up Arms, July 6, 1775, “Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them if we basely entail hereditary bondage on them.”
The rerun of presidential elections may proceed without a hitch to the level where all Kenyans may be satisfied that the rerun was democratic, and accept the outcome as representing their wishes. But the question is, what is the guarantee that what Kibaki did cannot be repeated by a future president, leading to even more deaths and destruction? As Alexander Hamilton stated in The Farmer Refuted, February 23, 1775, “A fondness for power is implanted, in most men, and it is natural to abuse it, when acquired.”
We submit to you that a rerun without reducing presidential powers may solve the current problems on the surface, but it may leave the roots of the problem intact, waiting to sprout another day.
We therefore urge all democratic-minded Kenyans to close ranks and focus on the enactment and implementation of a new constitution before any other election can be held.
Regarding power sharing
First, we should give power-sharing its proper name - a coalition or government of national unity (GNU). Having seen a coalition in action (NARC 2003-2005 and GNU, post referendum period), CCR-Kenya is very concerned that the same power plays that derailed the constitutional reform process are going to be merely replayed in the 2008-2012 period.
The result would be that Kenya approaches another election in 2012 under the same old constitution that led us to this mess in the first place. CCR-Kenya greatly fears that next time, we may indeed go the ‘Rwanda way’ that Kenyans have been talking about. It would be very reckless and unpatriotic for anybody to support the notion that we should go to another election under the present constitution.
In terms of the actualization of the reform process, CCR-Kenya has taken the initiative to proposes a citizen’s assembly that would bring together key stakeholders to kick-start and oversee the constitutional reform process.
We invite you to take part in the formation of the Citizens Assembly, to lay out the framework for enacting a people-driven constitution. The Citizens Assembly will be launched on April 9-10, 2008.
The structure and agenda of the assembly will be discussed in a tele-forum scheduled for Saturday, March 1, 2008 from 5pm-7pm East Africa Time (+3hrs GMT).
These will be followed by The Way Forward forums in Washington DC (U.S), Ottawa (Canada), London (England), Stockholm (Sweden) and Nairobi (Kenya), between March 15-31, 2008.
We urge all concerned to step on the path that leads Kenya towards genuine democratic transformation.
Sincerely,
Wanyee Kinuthia
Executive Director
Coalition for Constitutional Reforms Kenya
Tel. +1-613-316-3119
e-mail: info@ccr-kenya.com
Tegi Peter Omondi Obanda
International Coordinator
Coalition for Constitutional Reforms Kenya
Tel +1-613-316-5501
e-mail: tegi.obanda@gmail.com
Peter Kironyoh
National Coordinator
Coalition for Constitutional Reforms Kenya
and Treasurer, Madaraka Party
Tel. 254-0722-685830
pkironyoh@madaraka-kenya.org
Razia Mohamedali
Secretary General
Coalition for Constitutional Reforms Kenya
Tel: 254-02-2137033
254-02-2228655
254-0721-485444 (Mobile)
254-0733-947676 (Mobile)
Email: Mohamedali@jambo.co.ke
cc. Hon. Mwai Kibaki
cc. Raila Odinga
cc. The People of Kenya
cc. Friends of Kenya
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Supplementary information:
"Free Prior and Informed Consent" v/s "Free Entry"
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THE 1904 AND 1911 ANGLO-MAASAI "AGREEMENTS"
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Descendants of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse break away from US
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Aboriginal Leaders Face Jail Time in Spreading Disputes over First Nations
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