By Jerry Okungu
Nairobi, Kenya
June 23, 2013
Nobody expected that in three
short months following the March elections, Kenyans would embark on the road to
2017 election mode. Yet this is what has happened. A spat between the Senate
and the National Assembly, fuelled by President Uhuru Kenyatta’s action on the
controversial law on Revenue Division did it all.
Soon after it became known
that the Jubilee had caved in to MPs over the law makers’ salaries and
lucrative allowances, teachers did not waste time. The KUPPET and KNUT officials
rallied their members to demand their 1997 collective agreement which
successive governments have been ignoring.
What the striking teachers
are saying is simple: if this government can afford better pay for MPs and
expensive laptops for children still struggling to learn their ABC and basic
numbers under a tree at a cost of Ksh 60 billion, why not pay teachers well,
construct classrooms and equip schools properly. More importantly, why not
build computer labs for each school to be shared by all children in lower
primary institutions at a much lower cost and use the rest of the billions to
pay teachers well?
As if not to be left
behind, the Kenyatta National Hospital also downed their tools almost
simultaneously with Nairobi county workers. While KNH staff was demanding their
Ksh 4 billion salary arrears and allowances, Nairobi county workers were crying
foul over their three weeks delayed end of May salaries.
The decision by the Senate
to lodge a complaint at the Supreme Court while at the same time embarking on
the popular campaign to amend the constitution points to one thing: the Supreme
Court may not rule in their favor no matter how logical and factual their case
may be. They have the Supreme Court’s decision on the Raila Uhuru case to go
by.
This move to rope in
governors in the dispute between the Senate, National Assembly and the
President could be the reason the Executive hurriedly arranged a meeting with
all governors in Nairobi to reward them with special number plates for their
officials and diplomatic passports. Whether the 47 number plates and 47
diplomatic passports will compensate them enough to make them abandon pursuit
of their Ksh 48 billion deducted from their Senate allocations remains to be
seen.
The kind of re-alignment is
very much in conformity with Kenyan politics. It is a different kettle of fish.
Alignments and realignments are the order of things in Kenya.
Right now, there is an
interesting coming together of MPs from the ruling coalition and minority
coalition. They are all united in clamoring for more cash from the Treasury
come rain or shine. Even the clamor is led by Jubilee MPs who are the majority
in the National Assembly; three of the most vocal MPs in support of higher
salaries are Luo MPs from ODM strong holds that should not be supporting the
ruling coalition to fleece the people of Kenya.
In fact if anything, the
11th parliament is beginning to look like parliament under Daniel
arap Moi. The circus that is called the vetting of presidential appointments
seemed to be well planned and choreographed with some CORD MPs behaving like
the outsiders who choose to grieve more than the bereaved family. In almost all
vetted officers, some CORD MPs seem just too eager to cut short the debate by
asking the Speaker to go straight to the question to the floor. And they are
always the same MPs. And to tell you the truth, the august house is beginning
to look like a conveyor belt that allows both the chuff and grain to pass
through.
In the senate, the
situation is a little different. It would appear like all senators have forged
some unity of purpose especially after some thoughtless MPs intimated
prematurely that the National Assembly should disband the Senate. Here senators
have seen the need to hang together or else they be hanged separately.
The fear of derailing the
devolution and subsequently disbanding the senate, county assemblies and
special seats is the reason the political temperatures will heat up earlier
than we thought.
Disenchantment with the
Uhuru government has not come too soon for the National Government alone.
Governors in different parts of the country are equally feeling the heat. Take
the case of the Governor of Nakuru County. Here the governor has chosen to defy
his vetting board and appointed to his cabinet characters that had been
rejected by the board. In this impunity department, Kisumu has chosen to lead
the park. The new governor not only sleeps in a hotels just five minutes drive
from his home but has chosen to spend Ksh 70 million on four wheel drive cars
for his cabinet at a time when harvesting hyacinth is going to cost the tax
payer Ksh 50 million!
All these actions put
together can only point to one thing; we are soon going to find ourselves on
the road to the 2017 elections an angry electorate.
0 comments:
Post a Comment