After Trimming Ruto’s Powers, Uhuru’s Powers are Now Being Questioned by His Allies

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President Uhuru Kenyatta might have exercised his constitutional powers when he elevated Interior CS Fred Matiang’i to the heart of the Cabinet but this has seemingly not stopped Kenyans and the Political class from talking.

Ruto’s allies saw the President’s move as one aimed at sidelining their main man while others aligned to the President saw nothing wrong with the decision.

A section of politicians have now come out to call for a referendum to create an expanded Executive in which the president’s powers are shared.

The politicians have proposed an end to the current winner-takes-it-all system, saying, this was the only way to ensure inclusivity.

Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi, who co-chairs the Council of Governors’ (CoG) committee on constitutional review with Makueni’s Prof Kivutha Kibwana, said Kenya must rethink the version of liberal democracy inherited from the West at independence.

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The CoG committee is the first institutional face of the referendum debate, although it was not clear last evening whether Mr Kiraitu’s views were personal or representative of the thinking within the CoG.

According to the governor, the system under consideration will feature both a president and a prime minister sharing executive functions, and two deputy prime ministers with functions specified in law — essentially a cross-breed of presidential and parliamentary systems.

This will arguably enhance national stability by expanding what Mr Kiraitu calls “tribal representation” in the Executive branch.

“What we call political parties are tribal organisations and cultural groups. Our problem is hypocrisy, denying our ethnic and tribal identities in public while our actions betray otherwise, rather than acknowledging and managing them. The new system will embrace the reality of Kenya,” he said.

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Ford-Kenya leader and Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula said the proposed system would help to prevent election rigging as a whittled-down presidency would no longer be so attractive.

“Given our ethnic fault lines and regional divisions, we need a new constitutional dispensation that dismantles the concentration of power in the presidency and disperses it to other offices so that the presidency becomes less attractive, hence not a do-or-die affair during every election,” Mr Wetang’ula said.

He urged President Kenyatta to take advantage of the current tranquillity in the country to lead the nation to a consensual referendum.

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