A revolution that is bound to change the face of the Kenyan government system is in play with various range of new ideas streaming in as suggestions for implementation.
The proposals that would trigger a referendum are likely to be the next battlefront between ODM leader Raila Odinga and his political nemesis, Deputy President William Ruto.
ODM has made radical recommendations to the handshake team, including a single seven-year term for the next head of state and a Parliament smaller by half.
In another far-reaching suggestion, Raila’s party wants to get rid of the EACC. The agency has been seen as moribund in the anti-graft war, despite a massive budgetary allocation. The DCI appears to be the main driver of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s corruption purge.
ODM is pushing for decentralisation of the IEBC that would involve creating national and regional commissions to oversee the electoral process.
The party also wants commissioners appointed on a part-time basis by political parties with enhanced public participation to build credibility.
ODM also wants stakeholder input into recruitment of senior staff at national and regional levels, rekindling its protracted fight to have ex-CEO Ezra Chiloba axed from the IEBC.
Nasa had also identified top officers of the IEBC whom they accused of bungling last year’s presidential vote by allegedly siding with Jubilee.
“To combat and prevent corruption and economic crime in Kenya through law enforcement, preventive measures, public education and promotion of standards and practices of integrity, ethics and anti-corruption,” reads the mandate statement on the website of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).
The opposition outfit also wants the Directorate of Criminal Investigations delinked from the command of the national police and made a constitutional agency.
In other sweeping changes, the Orange Party proposes drastically slashing the size of the bicameral Parliament from 416 to 208 lawmakers. It wants the Senate empowered as the Upper House. Nominated seats would be abolished in both houses.
The head of state would be barred from seeking reelection.
While opposition leader Raila Odinga insists that the country must hold a referendum, Deputy President William Ruto is opposed to it, saying it would put the country in perpetual election mode. President Uhuru Kenyatta remains ambivalent on the issue.
Do you agree that EACC should be abolished?