Besieged President William Ruto is dangling carrots to the opposition by pushing an unprecedented constitutional change through parliament, both National Assembly and the Senate at a time opposition leader Raila Odinga readies his brigade to stage anti-government protests.
Yesterday, Ruto presented a detailed communique to the bicameral House lead by Speakers of the Parliament Moses Wetang’ula of the National Assembly and Amason Kingi of the Senate.
He proposed a number of changes that, if implemented, would result in, among other things, the establishment of the role of official opposition leader.
He expressed his support for the idea and requested that the legislature amend Chapter 9 of the Constitution to permit the establishment of the office of the opposition leader with specific responsibilities.
He also urged lawmakers to create legislation that will support the idea and laid out the parameters within which the leader will function.
“I propose that Parliament consider an amendment to Chapter 9, Part IV of the Constitution to establish the office of the Leader of the Official Opposition, with its operational dimensions to be provided for in consequential legislation,” read part of the memo to the speakers.
The move is widely interpreted as a scheme to tame the opposition and limit the government oversight to parliament as opposed to the spontaneous anti-government protests on the streets.
Ruto argues that the current structure prevents the minority (opposition) from participating in important topics of national importance since the opposition was compelled to rely on the Leader of the Minority in Parliament to advance its agenda or engage in national concerns.
“The consequence is that the overall political leader of the minority side is effectively excluded from meaningful political participation and left to rely on the minority house leadership to perform the function… The time has come for us to explore the possibility of remedying this shortcoming,” continuation part of the memo revealed.
If adopted by lawmakers into the constitution, the proposal would give the opposition more authority, allowing them to participate in the selection of important officials for state positions and address Parliament on the state of the country.
To achieve gender balance in the House, the president also advocated for the nomination of additional women to the National Assembly in the message.
The president further demanded that the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Constituency Development Fund be overturned, that it be reinstated, and that it be written back into the Constitution because of its obvious advantages.
“The CDF also makes the constituency a forum for continuous engagement on critical issues, and effective mobilisation to solve problems in the spirit of collective action. There is, therefore, a strong case to be made, rooted in the essence of the very idea of representative democracy, for the CDF to exist under an appropriate framework,” the president observed in the memo.
A framework for allowing Cabinet Secretaries and Chief Administrative Secretaries to engage in parliamentary proceedings by answering questions posed by parliamentarians was also proposed by Ruto in the letter.
The memo from President Ruto appeared amid allegations that the government had made contact with the opposition following a recent rally at Kamukunji Grounds that received harsh criticism and resulted in the cancellation of a protest for Jamhuri Day celebrations.
During his speech at the Jumuiya ya Kaunti za Pwani summit yesterday in Tana River County, opposition leader Raila Odinga made comments that have since been refuted, hinting that the rally was cancelled to honor President Joe Biden’s invitation to attend and speak at a global summit in the United States of America.
