Commentary (by Standard Editorial team) - Parliament owes us governance reforms

Ref: http://www.eastandard.net/news/?id=1143982839&cid=16


Published on March 6, 2008, 12:00 am

Parliament opens again today with the people’s representatives considering the policy statements of a grand coalition in which the nation’s hopes for change now rest.

This is a historic moment in many ways, not least in that it will show us whether President Kibaki and Mr Raila Odinga, in deciding priorities for the new Government they are to form, have finally set the stage for the realisation of long awaited political and social reforms.

The battle to change the way our Government relates to the people has been fought for close to two decades. It has raged in the streets, in the courts, in the media, in torture chambers, in the august House, at the ballot box and even in an eventually barren constitutional review.

Bitter disputes have riven both those seeking change and those opposing it, with acts of political expediency seeing some change camps not just politically but at times ideologically.

Despite many of the main actors having fallen away or changed tune, there remain people of varied political persuasions who are committed to its basic ideas — to curb Government’s tendency to infringe on individual and civil liberties, free its organs from the grip of corrupt cabals and harness its potential to serve everyone equitably.

Curbing the powers of the presidency, a task partially begun following the signing of the accord that allows a grand coalition of the parties in the Tenth Parliament, is the first major step in dealing with the first two challenges.

We now have an opportunity to soberly consider and implement changes that will lead to this reform journey being completed. Disagreements on the nature or degree of reform necessary or possible are to be expected. After all, they informed the fracturing of Narc and the rhetoric of both the 2005 referendum and last year’s General Election. However, it is our hope that honourable members in this Parliament — a group chosen for change if any ever were — will work in the spirit of compromise that bred the coalition and end years of agitation for a Government that isn’t susceptible to the whims of would-be dictators and kleptocrats.

This is not the first time optimism has brightened the faces of Kenyans at the prospect of real change leading to checks and balances and thus efficient, effective and responsible Government. In 2002, the Narc coalition bred greater optimism but quickly went on to fall into disarray.

Kenya’s experience with President Kibaki’s first term has shown that without reform, even well-meaning agents of good government will find their work undone by others only too eager to exploit institutional weaknesses and abuse their power. His second, now shared by ODM leader Mr Raila Odinga, should hopefully lay the foundation for the realisation of true change.