Now Raila deserves more powers

Whenever Raila Odinga rocks the fragile ODM-PNU boat he has something up his sleeve. Last time he did so was last year at Kilaguni when he was demanding more powers as Kibaki’s equal partner. Now he has done it again for more or less the same reason. Section 15 (a) of the Constitution, and Section 4 (1) of the National Accord and Reconciliation Act, which he claims confer on him the powers to suspend ministers William Ruto and Samuel Ongeri for a period of three months do not vest him with such powers and Raila knows it.

Section 15 (a) of the Constitution legitimizes the office of the Prime Minister, making it protected by the supreme law of the land. Section 4. (1) of the National Accord and Reconciliation Act says the Prime Minister shall have authority to co-ordinate and supervise the execution of the Government, including those of Ministries. It does not specifically say that this supervision shall include the suspension of any Minister. The Constitution gives the powers to fire Ministers to the President. Obviously the Prime Minister is not happy with this state of affairs and, if anything, he has succeeded in making the issue a matter of national debate even though the Attorney General has ruled against him.

Kibaki’s rebuttal was indeed supported by the law. He said the basis of appointment, suspension and removal of a Minister under the Coalition Government as per the Constitution of the Republic of Kenya, the National Accord and Reconciliation Act and the Agreement on the Principles of Partnership of the Coalition government is full consultation and concurrence between the President and the Prime Minister. He added that there had been no consultation between him the Prime Minister on the suspension of Ruto and Ongeri as announced by Raila at his Press Conference.

Now the matter is so serious that the ODM has threatened to boycott Cabinet meetings – an act that obviously threatens the very existence of the coalition Government. Whether Raila should have powers to suspend Ministers or not, however, is beside the point. The question that concerns the majority of the people of Kenya is why Raila thought it necessary to suspend Ruto and Ongeri. His reasons are sound and convincing. He said he was taking this action because two recent investigations, the forensic audit by PwC on the maize scandal, and the Report of the Internal Auditor General on Free Primary Education, have laid credible foundations for the two ministers to be investigated.

The law may very well be on Kibaki’s side but the people on this issue of the fight against corruption are on Raila’s side. His determined resolution to expose corruption wherever it exits seems to be more focused than that of the President. People believe that the Prime Minister’s resolute and very strong willed fight against corruption ought to be backed by the law and probably the only way to do so is to renegotiate the National Accord to give him powers to suspend suspected corrupt Ministers. At the moment the law is not specific on this issue and those backing the Prime Minister are overstretching the meaning of the word “supervision”.

Sharing a platform with President Kibaki at a workshop of Permanent Secretaries on Strategies to eliminate corruption earlier this month the Prime Minister seemed to realize his position did not empower him to fire any Minister or Permanent Secretary. Talking about what he described as institutional credibility he simply “recommended” to the President to direct the Minister of Education and the Permanent Secretary to step down.

The Prime Minister then said he intended to direct the Permanent Secretary for Performance Contracting to revise all existing Contracts and insert a clause that stipulates that once the ministry as a whole or individual units in it are charged with serious malpractices, the person who heads the ministry or the units involved automatically and voluntarily step down, irrespective of whether he or she is directly implicated in that case.

This threat must have worried the President and his people in the PNU. Something had to be done as the Prime Minister appeared to be the leading light in the fight against corruption. Both internationally and locally he had totally overshadowed the President in that struggle. He was the people’s Prime Minister. To silence him the PNU faction of the Government leaked to the Media the PwC report implicating Raila’s Administrative Secretary, Karoli Omondi and his Permanent Secretary Dr. Mohammed Isahakia, in maize scandal. But instead of silencing Raila the move only made the Prime Minister even more unwavering. He asked his close associates in his office to step down to enable further investigations.

The move put Kibaki in a tight corner. Raila became an even greater hero to the people and the international community. Kibaki had to do something not to be left so far behind in the vital war against corruption. No sooner did Karoli Omondi and Mohammed Isahakia announce their stepping down than a terse statement issued from State House asked the two officials from the Prime Minister’s office to “step down” to facilitate investigations. Together with Karoli and Isahakia were six other officers asked by the President to step down, including the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Romano Kiome, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Special Programmes, Ali Mohamed, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Prof. Karega Mutahi, Managing Director, National Cereals and Produce Board, Gideon Misoi, Mr. Boit, Sales and Marketing Manager - National Cereals and Produce Board, and Mr. Langat, General Manager -National Cereals and Produce Board, who is currently on suspension.

To remain in the lead in the fight against corruption Raila came up with a bombshell of suspending Ruto and Ongeri. That has not gone down well with the rebels in ODM backed by the PNU. The current debate about the powers of the Prime Minister is taking place in the manner in which Raila planned and executed. The nation can see clearly that he needs to have powers to discipline Ministers. The people can also see that corruption will soon be a thing of the past if Raila had the powers to suspend suspected corrupt Ministers. So whether the law is on his side or not the people would like him to have the powers to hire and fire.

The most puzzling question in the current PNU-ODM power struggle is whether it really threatens the coalition Government. All the ODM Ministers have categorically said they have no intention to resign. Kibaki has no Constitutional powers to fire them. All they want to do is create a crisis so that their grievances can be heard. And they have plenty of these. To begin with they are extremely unhappy with the outcome of the Naivasha consensus on the constitution. Though the party was fully represented at the Naivasha talks PNU, backed by ODM rebels had an upper hand. The outcome is a constitution that creates a monster of a dictator and a total disregard of some vital human rights.

If possible the ODM would like to see a hybrid Constitution which deliberately creates two centres of power which will automatically have checks and balances. The advantages of such centers of power can be seen today when Kibaki is forced to fire corrupt officials because the Prime Minister would simply not allow him to remain lackadaisical on such sensitive issue. The ODM knows it is the most popular party among the people and if the worst comes to the worst and the country is forced to go for early elections there are still very good chances that it will form the next Government.

At the moment Raila and his people would like Kofi Annan and his team to come and mediate in the current crisis. If that happens there is a very good chance of renegotiating the National Accord to give the Prime Minister equal powers with the President. That move however is likely to face a very vigorous opposition from PNU and ODM rebels. These two can make sure that even if Annan comes they will frustrate his efforts to arbitrate. The move to boycott Cabinet meetings, however, is not a wise one because it will only make Kibaki rule without checks and balances.