That's right!
Ms. Condoleeza Rice, Secretary of State of the United States will be in Kenya tomorrow to help with the negotiations of a power deal between the government represented by a party called PNU and the Opposition represented by a party called ODM. Just so you understand... Condoleeza Rice is the top diplomat of the only super-power on planet earth. And she will be in Kenya to assist in the negotiations (my hunch is that she is coming to give an ultimatum!). And President George W. Bush has made clear what he wants. He wants a grand coalition between the government (PNU) and the Opposition (ODM) so that commerce can resume and confidence in Kenya's long-term stability can be restored.
The sticking point is and has ALWAYS been that the President of Kenya has too much power. Stated simply, the entire Executive and Judiciary serve at his pleasure. In the US, the Supreme court of the United States has the constitutional authority to nullify presidential actions. They can, and have told Bush and other US Presidents that "No you cannot do that! And that is the end of the matter because we are the Supreme Court!" This kind of defiance is unthinkable in Kenya because the judge that dared defy the President would be out of a job the next day. So the negotiations will be focusing on how to reduce Presidential power.
I have to say that I am SUPER proud of the international community. They have refused to ignore Kenya. The disputed election was on Dec 27... over a month and a half ago but yet there is still a concerted international effort to make things right in Kenya. I think the Kibaki govt is slowly coming to this realization: that they will have to compromise and give up some Presidential power. The details are everything.
Personally, I would be happy if the President of Kenya would require parliamentary approval to appoint, AND could NOT remove AT ALL members of Kenya's High Court (our supreme court); that only the parliament could do this. This together with his inability to remove regional administrators at will without some sort of legislative approval. i.e. Provincial Administrators. I will concede that the president's cabinet is HIS/HER choice but on a regional level there need to be checks. These two changes ALONE would be enough for me.
So Condoleeza work will be to find what the Kibaki administration is willing to give up in terms of Presidential Power. This is all that matters. NOTHING ELSE MATTERS. In fact this is her mission. She MUST convince Kibaki to give up some Presidential power or else there will be no deal!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
A deal in the works???
It has been nearly a month since I posted anything and a lot has happened since. More Kenyans have died and even more have been kicked out of their homes through ethic cleansing, BUT the international community has not abandoned Kenya. International diplomats of the highest level have been dispatched to Kenya led by Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary General, as well as frequent pop-ins by the current UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, to keep negotiations moving, have brought the seemingly intractable sides close to a power-sharing deal.
Since my last post, Kenyan commerce has slowed to a virtual standstill. This affects more than just the citizens of Kenya. Neighboring countries that depend on Kenya’s commercial arteries are suffering economically. The grim specter of Kenya devolving to chaos would impact more than the Kenyan population; it would have a crippling regional impact. This perhaps is the reason for such a concerted and sustained international effort to broker a political deal that will return stability and prosperity to Kenya.
In a previous post on my blog I had suggested that perhaps the opposition should have used the leverage they had to negotiate for constitutional concessions from the incumbent Kibaki government rather than aggressively and violently disputing the election results. As it turns out, this is exactly what might happen due to Secretary General Annan’s Herculean diplomatic efforts.
The latest word is that a power-sharing deal is imminent with the incumbent Kibaki remaining as President, while a new executive post (Prime Minister) would be created for opposition leader Raila Odinga. The creation of a second executive post would necessarily diminish the currently unchecked power of the office of the President of Kenya. Of course, the devil is in the details, but this, in and of itself, is a HUGE step forward for Kenya. The notion that the Kenya government is willing to countenance a diminution of Presidential executive power is REVOLUTIONARY and cannot be overstated and is to be applauded!!!!
Of course, there are constitutional problems. This deal would require amending Kenya’s constitution and not everyone is happy about this. For one, some voices note that if the opposition joins the government, what happens to multiparty democracy in Kenya? Also, amending Kenya’s constitution, just like amending the US constitution, is no cake-walk. Parties now in positions of power who stand to lose these positions should this power-sharing deal be struck are naturally taking a dim view of the current negotiations and may try sabotage them.
However, as an American of Kenyan heritage who still cares deeply about the well being of the country of his birth, I feel, and have said many times, that the problem with Kenya is that the President has too much power. The entire Executive branch as well as the entire Judicial branch of government serve at his pleasure. Executive and Judicial officers at every level of government can be appointed and, more importantly, be removed at the whim of the President!
This would be the equivalent of President Bush being able to appoint and fire without cause and without any possibility of review from the Congress the entire US cabinet, all top administrators of all federal agencies like the FDA and Homeland Security; the top brass of the armed forces; regional law enforcement leaders (police chiefs); Supreme Court justices, federal judges etc. This, as you can see, results in a situation where winning the Presidency becomes a winner take all, zero sum game resulting in violence and ethnic cleansing rather than lawsuits (as we are accustomed to in the US). If this deal in Kenya can change this dynamic, then I am for it 100%.
May God smile upon Kenya.
Since my last post, Kenyan commerce has slowed to a virtual standstill. This affects more than just the citizens of Kenya. Neighboring countries that depend on Kenya’s commercial arteries are suffering economically. The grim specter of Kenya devolving to chaos would impact more than the Kenyan population; it would have a crippling regional impact. This perhaps is the reason for such a concerted and sustained international effort to broker a political deal that will return stability and prosperity to Kenya.
In a previous post on my blog I had suggested that perhaps the opposition should have used the leverage they had to negotiate for constitutional concessions from the incumbent Kibaki government rather than aggressively and violently disputing the election results. As it turns out, this is exactly what might happen due to Secretary General Annan’s Herculean diplomatic efforts.
The latest word is that a power-sharing deal is imminent with the incumbent Kibaki remaining as President, while a new executive post (Prime Minister) would be created for opposition leader Raila Odinga. The creation of a second executive post would necessarily diminish the currently unchecked power of the office of the President of Kenya. Of course, the devil is in the details, but this, in and of itself, is a HUGE step forward for Kenya. The notion that the Kenya government is willing to countenance a diminution of Presidential executive power is REVOLUTIONARY and cannot be overstated and is to be applauded!!!!
Of course, there are constitutional problems. This deal would require amending Kenya’s constitution and not everyone is happy about this. For one, some voices note that if the opposition joins the government, what happens to multiparty democracy in Kenya? Also, amending Kenya’s constitution, just like amending the US constitution, is no cake-walk. Parties now in positions of power who stand to lose these positions should this power-sharing deal be struck are naturally taking a dim view of the current negotiations and may try sabotage them.
However, as an American of Kenyan heritage who still cares deeply about the well being of the country of his birth, I feel, and have said many times, that the problem with Kenya is that the President has too much power. The entire Executive branch as well as the entire Judicial branch of government serve at his pleasure. Executive and Judicial officers at every level of government can be appointed and, more importantly, be removed at the whim of the President!
This would be the equivalent of President Bush being able to appoint and fire without cause and without any possibility of review from the Congress the entire US cabinet, all top administrators of all federal agencies like the FDA and Homeland Security; the top brass of the armed forces; regional law enforcement leaders (police chiefs); Supreme Court justices, federal judges etc. This, as you can see, results in a situation where winning the Presidency becomes a winner take all, zero sum game resulting in violence and ethnic cleansing rather than lawsuits (as we are accustomed to in the US). If this deal in Kenya can change this dynamic, then I am for it 100%.
May God smile upon Kenya.
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