Constitutional Amendment Tailored to Expand “Eating Space” for the Ruling Class
Does the Kenyan Constitution need amendment?
In any democratic country where an elected leadership governs citizens through Parliamentary democracy, the primary function of the government is to ensure that every citizen has three basic human requirements: food, clothing and shelter.
Next, it is the responsibility of the government to facilitate the creation of jobs especially for the youth, provide medical services, build infrastructure, safeguard the law, provide security to all citizens, protect the sovereignty of the country and provided other social amenities as per agreements with the people.
In a democratic society, the Constitution is written by the people who pay taxes to the government so that those in control of state revenue can finance various government projects and activities. The right to food, clothing and shelter are all guaranteed in the Constitution, and it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that every citizen abides by the content of the Constitution.
The current Constitution is enough
Kenyans are facing yet another debate based on the need to change the “new Constitution” which was promulgated in August 2010. The question that must be posed and answered is whether the New Constitution needs to be modified or amended.
The reason that has been provided as to why the constitution needs to be amended is because of the failure of the electoral system to function as had been envisioned. This failure left Kenya with an illegitimate government that led to the formation of the National Resistance Movement (NMR) led by Raila Odinga.
According to Raila, the country was heading towards chaos after his swearing in, and instead of allowing the situation to deteriorate, Raila Odinga decided to shake hands with Uhuru Kenyatta in a deal that supposedly included an amendment of the Constitution to change government structure by creating and abolishing positions at the same time. However, does Kenyans need to amend the current constitution to solve her problems?
The answer is “No”. The constitution has enough clauses to enable the government to work smoothly and to deliver. The problem is not with the document but with individuals who have worked to prevent the full implementation of the Constitution.
Under capitalism, elite interests always override constitutional provisions
On the one hand is the ruling elite entrusted with implementing the constitution and on the other are the citizens who expect justice through the implementation of the constitution. The main problem is that in a country ruled by a tightly-configured ruling class with single access to state resources, the implementation of the constitution has always been conducted in a way that favours the ruling elite, and not “the people”.
This explains why in the Kenyan case, the New Constitution has been violated at almost every stage without consequences or prosecutions. For example, the rigging of the 2007 election, the 2013 poll and the 2017 elections were all conducted by members of the ruling class who wanted to retain power through the Jubilee Party. In all the elections that were rigged, institutions entrusted with holding the election like the IEBC were all tampered with by the State while security apparatuses (including the National Intelligence Services – NIS) were part of election rigging machinery.
Under the circumstances, the point is that for the ruling elite (which has the power to oversee the implementation of the constitution) the interests of the elite always comes first regardless of how democratic the constitution may be.
The Constitution is a piece of paper
Another typical example of a constitutional violation is to be found in clauses touching on fundamental human rights – food, clothing and shelter. While the Constitution guarantees these rights, the document is routinely violated by the ruling class whose only pre-occupation in government is looting and stashing of stolen funds in off-shore accounts.
The Constitution guarantees the sanctity of life. However, hundreds of Kenyans have been assassinated by the State with impunity and without consequences because those killed were seen as standing on the way of the ruling elite. In this violation, cases of 22 Islamic clerics, who were all shot dead in cold blood in the coastal city of Mombasa (without any arrests) quickly comes to mind.
Recent assassinations such as that of Chris Msando, former IEBC official, businessman Jacob Juma and others before them, demonstrates that even though the Constitution exists, individual members of the ruling class are “above the law and the constitution” and can violate the constitution at any time and get away with the crime.
In short, the constitution remains a piece of paper that will continue to be worthless as long as its implementation remains on the hands of the oppressor ruling class. For this reason, the current debate as to whether or not the Kenyan constitution needs to be amended is a waste of time. Statutes already in the Constitution are enough to deliver a democratic country where everything works as long as the document is respected and observed.
The project is to install a government that can loot “in peace”
Moving forward, the country can even be governed without a Constitution as long as there are strong laws. Politicians should therefore stop projecting the Constitution as some bible that Kenya cannot do without. A case in point is the United Kingdom which has no constitution but which continues to remain one of the most advanced democracies in the world.
The truth is, the Constitution will never put food on the table when the masses of the people are not in charge of both the implementation of the document and the country’s resources. For this reason, the current move to amend the Kenyan constitution is a farce that is meant to fool Kenyans to open the way for the country to be controlled by political families and big business, not in the interest of the country but for the benefit of the ruling elite and their collaborators who sit on big capital.
Any move towards a referendum to amend the Constitution will therefore be a massive waste of tax payer’s money because in the end, it is members of the ruling class which will be awarded fresh positions so that everyone of this thieving class can be able to sit on the eating table as the masses of the people suffer.
Kenyans must begin to see beyond what they are being told and either reject calls for a Referendum or boycott the Referendum altogether. Because of vested interests, the referendum remains a project of the rich who can no longer all fit on the eating table thus the need to expand the eating space in exchange for smooth exploitation of Kenyans and flawless looting of the country’s resources by the thieving ruling class.
The project is to install a government that can loot in peace and a passive population that can pay taxes without question and face exploitation without resistance.
Kenya New world
