Honest dialogue will strengthen Constitution

President William Ruto’s bid to form a broad-based government is far from resolving Kenya’s political and economic crisis.

The Kenya Kwanza administration should be under no illusion that its desperate decision to co-opt Opposition Raila Odinga’s allies into the Cabinet has received popular national approval.

It is certainly not the solution to the litany of woes confronting the nation and its citizens. Corrective action must go beyond the Cabinet to the principal secretary level and other key “deep State” positions.

Raila’s controversial move to “save” Ruto’s beleaguered government following the stunning and hugely popular Gen Z protests could have provided a temporary respite from the ticking time bomb of social unrest.

However, while some of his allies and support base may have grudgingly responded to Raila’s lifeline to a besieged Ruto government with cautious acceptance, there remains a groundswell of rejection of this marriage.

Matters have been worsened by Ruto’s reappointment of unpopular allies back to the Cabinet he dismissed as the protests powder keg threatened to explode. The protesting youth are angry and have vowed to continue with protests until their demands are met.

Gen Z protests highlighted kleptocracy, tribalism and nepotism in State and public appointments, corruption, unemployment and high cost of living as the thorny national issues that triggered their citizen-supported mass action.

Add the heavy burden of taxation and huge public debt weighing down workers and millions of poor Kenyans, and disintegrating health and education systems directly affecting the youth and children.

This cocktail of toxic explosive political and economic issues requires a fresh and pragmatic resolution.

Not simplistic rhetoric and speeches or the same old tired roadside political cliches typical of election campaigns or “opening” recycled or shadowy projects.

These are extremely serious issues that behoove the government to internally reflect in deep introspection with its high-level officials, and to extend this reflection to independent technocrats.

It is now time for the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary to listen to the people urgently and attentively to holistically accommodate their demands.

Let the people dialogue among themselves devoid of these three arms of government. After all, the joint government and Opposition National Dialogue Committee (NADCO) report still needs to be subjected to intense public scrutiny.

The people and independent economic experts must be allowed to thoroughly interrogate the Auditor-General and Controller of Budget’s damning reports on the financial probity of national and country governments.

Most importantly, the national people’s convention to dialogue on all these critical issues should be modelled like the all-inclusive Constitution review process at the Bomas of Kenya in 2004.

It must not include politicians. The political class has had all the time to address these issues since independence to date to no avail for the majority of Kenyans stuck in the quagmire of the political elite’s deceit, arrogance, graft, and want.

Fresh, honest national dialogue must be holistically interactive consisting only of economists, religious groups, civil society, the media and lawyers, through the umbrella Law Society of Kenya (LSK).

As the people deliberate, the agenda is clear: to review and strengthen the Constitution to deliver on its promise of national socio-economic development, devolution of power and resources, and social justice.

That means strengthening Chapter 6 on Leadership and Integrity and Chapter 37 and Article 118 (b) on Public Participation that have literally been “raped” by the political class.

-The writer comments on national affairs-