Renown female lawyer, Kethi Kilonzo has given President Uhuru Kenyatta her two-cents on the looming amendments of the constitution and how he is supposed to tackle his ‘Big Four Plan’.
Here is a letter written on Sunday daily standard In a piece titled “
Mr President, the fate of the Constitution is tied to you, set the agenda“,
Kethi opined that President Uhuru’s Big Four Plans- manufacturing, universal healthcare, affordable housing, and food security- are simply basic rights already envisaged on the Constitution.
So long as he properly steers his government to take legislative, policy and other measures, including setting of strict standards to ensure the constitution is followed to the latter, it wouldn’t be a problem for him to achieve these goals.
2) Constitution Amendments/Referendum
There is no denying that in the next 4 years,Kenya’s political discussions would largely revolve around the topic of a referendum/constitution amendments.
Emerging reports indicate that changing our current mode of governance were amongst the raft of recommendations Opposition leader Raila Odinga made with President Kenyatta during their ceasefire agreement on March 9th.
However,in a thinly-veiled reference to the proposal of the famous Handshake,Kethi noted that the constitution should not be pulled apart and pieced together as and when it suits the political class.
She was not optimistic that any amendments to the constitution would bear any fruits,her reasoning being, i quote;
“Any further constitutional reform of Kenya’s political systems will only lead to demands for more in future as the demand for more power by the political class will never end. Even the 2010 Constitution in all its grandeur, did not stop the electoral disputes and violence that accompany Kenya’s electoral cycle.”Read Kethi’s publication in part.
She added:”Insanity, they say, is doing the same thing over and again expecting different results. Perhaps it is time to try something new.”
The powerful lawyer concluded by.
“Perhaps it is now the time to use the 2010 Constitution to empower and enrich the people of Kenya and not its political class.
Perhaps the solution to the cyclic electoral disputes and violence lies in giving power back to the people of Kenya and not in giving the political class more power. The Big Four Plan is a good place to start as any. So is the constitutional agenda for Kenya’s women, youth, and the disabled.”Read Kethi’s article.
She concluded by remain the Head of State that Kenyans are still bruised by the elections of 2017. She remarked that its time for the electioneering, political positioning and the agendas of the political class to give way to the people’s agenda.
