Our constitution needs Kenyan style reforms
By Charles Ochen Okwir – 9th-15th Aug 2010
Mr. Okwir
Kenyans, for all their recent political troubles, achieved something truly magnificent last week. As a people, they finally voted [in a referendum] for a new constitution which they had, rather unusually, debated and mauled over for more than two decades. That, by any standards, must be something worth a celebratory drink for all Kenyans.
Besides, coming less than three years after the violent general elections of December 2007 that claimed the lives of over 1,000 people, the fact that this referendum passed off peacefully is another great achievement worthy of mention here. What a contrast to the ruling NRM’s internal elections in Uganda [around the same time] that were marred by gunshots, widespread rigging, and intimidation.Leaving the very admirable political civility and or maturity of the referendum exercise aside, I think the real significance [even for us Ugandans] of this Kenyan constitutional plebiscite lies in the reforms that the new constitution will usher into Kenyan life.
I am particularly excited by the fact that Kenya’s new constitution will severely curtail the powers of the president; it will devolve power from the centre to the regions; it will enable the repossession of illegally acquired public land; and it will create a Senate; a revision legislative chamber of sorts. All these are important reforms that can strengthen democracy. Let’s consider one or two!
Perils of excessive power:
It is now agreed that a great deal of Uganda’s political problems stem from the fact that its constitution bestows too much power on the President of the Republic; power that totally blinds and suffocates the President as an individual. Even where it doesn’t, it still leaves too much room for the President to extend his powers through discretionary political activism. That surely cannot be good for Uganda as a country. It leaves our Presidents feeling and behaving like small gods; omnipotent and omnipresent!
A 10yr old “brain-box” boy of mixed Ugandan and Indian parentage once shocked me with his impeccable political appreciation of that very sad reality. When Barack Obama was elected US President, I asked this little lad if he would one day, like Obama, consider running for the office of Prime Minister of Britain. He didn’t even think about it: “No way”; he said instantly. “It’s too much hard work. I would rather be President of Uganda so I can do what I like”; he added.
With those few juvenile words, and without even knowing it, this little fella had delivered a devastating indictment on the Ugandan Presidency. It’s a job where political accountability is simply non-existent. You do as you please. Even a 10yr old can see it! So why is it that our very mature “honourable” politicians have failed to see the wisdom that a 10yr old boy saw instantly; the same wisdom that has now informed Kenya’s decision to curb their President’s powers constitutionally.
I am convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that if Ugandans sit down and critically look at the powers vested in the presidency with a view to reducing them significantly, then they will have achieved something great. For a start, a less powerful presidency will be less attractive to power hungry politicians. So they will shun it and in the process save us the many immeasurable political problems associated with a politicians desire to become president and then hang on to it at all costs. Devolution of key powers from the centre to what I will call “Regional Assemblies” will then be the icing on the cake.
Repossession of illegally acquired land:
This, for my money, is as good a deterrent as they come. Everywhere you go in Kenya, you will come across obscene amounts of land that you will be told belong to the Kenyatta, Moi, or Kibaki families. For the Kenyatta and Moi families in particular, the land runs into miles upon miles. From Mombasa, Nakuru, Eldoret, to Kisumu; they are there. How on earth did they acquire such vast amounts of land? Did their longevity in power give them an unfair and perhaps even illegal advantage in the acquisition of all that land?
In our very own Uganda, we have witnessed an unprecedented spectacle of land grabbing over the last 20yrs. Powerful people in Museveni’s government have illegally or at least suspiciously parcelled for themselves nearly all the “choice cuts” of real estate and public land in Uganda.
The massive land containing the Doctors Quarters on Kitante Road that CMI forcefully occupied is gone. UTV’s land in Nakasero hill went. Shimoni Demonstration School land went. Huge chunks of Golf Course land went. Centenary Park land is virtually gone. Butabika Hospital land went. Kisozi Government Ranch went to the CEO of the Republic. All Uganda Commercial Bank [UCB] assets went. All government houses in nearly all Ugandan towns went; the list is simply impossible to exhaust in an opinion article like this.
The question is: Would the powerful land grabbing sharks in Museveni’s government proceeded with the loot if they knew beyond doubt that they would lose it at some point? I think not. For that reason, I would implore the next Ugandan government to seriously consider introducing such a land repossession provision in our constitution as a deterrent to illegal acquisitions of public land.
Charles Okwir is a London based Ugandan Lawyer and Journalist.
