Referendum: Amend Article 136 of the 2010 Constitution

136. Election of the President
(1) The President shall be elected by registered voters in a national election
conducted in accordance with this Constitution and any Act of Parliament regulating
presidential elections.
(2) An election of the President shall be held—
(a) on the same day as a general election of Members of Parliament,
being the second Tuesday in August, in every fifth year; or
(b) in the circumstances contemplated in Article 146

I’m not implying that the common voter does not have the capacity to vote for a capable president. However, the ethnicization of the presidential elections poisons the environment making the election of the president by popular vote untenable.

The only way to deal with the issue of tribalism is by:

1. CUTTING THE DIRECT LINK BETWEEN THE ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENCY AND THE VOTERS

Kenyans are ONE, 4 out of every 5 years: They school together, they engage in business, interact at their work places, drink together- heck they even intermarry!

In the course of the four years, we engage in many PEACEFUL by-elections resulting either from successful petitions against elected officials or from their demise. This should serve as proof enough that elections, per se, aren’t the cause of election violence (pre or post).
The fifth year is exclusively set aside for every Kenyan to go back to their tribal cocoons, and help one of their kinsman/woman to become the president. And if a tribe doesn’t have the requisite numbers to make it to the presidency, the members are “herded” into coalitions that would make sure that the Kikuyu doesn’t get the presidency (again!). The end result of all this is resentment towards the winning candidate’s tribe, the flawed perception being that “now the whole of that tribe will benefit at the expense of all the others”. This resentment is a powder keg that require just a few comments like “mass action” from some leaders to ignite it into a full blown explosion as was witnessed in the ’07/’08 PEV.

The only way to prevent this resentment from percolating into our social fabric is to eliminate the direct thread that ties an individual, and by extension the tribe, to the determination of the occupant of the house on the hill.

The model I have in mind that would cut this direct link, is the election of the speaker of the national assembly. The speaker of the national assembly (quite a powerful position) is elected by MPs-elect without asking for the electorates’ help. This ensures that the issue of tribe doesn’t feature so prominently as there’s no direct link between the election of the speaker and Wanjiku the voter.

My proposal for severing this direct link between Wanjiku and the presidency is as follows:

a). The voters elect their local officials (county assembly  representatives, MPs, senators, women representatives and Governors).

b). The legislators (senators and  MPs) join together and elect the president and his/her running mate from among themselves, just the same way they elect the  speaker of the national assembly.

In any case, since the legislators  have the powers to fire( read: impeach)  the president, why can’t we give them the power to hire him/her? This way,no presidential candidate will come begging the voters to elect them because they come from their tribe. In fact, this is the easiest way to elect president from members of small communities just like Ekwe Ethuro(1st Senate Speaker)

The president is supposed to be the president of the whole country. This is the best way to ensure that this theory is in tandem with the practice.

I understand this is not exactly the “democracy” as we read in all those big books, but it’s the only way forward for Kenya and kenyans to rise above tribe and avoid another bout of PEV.

I’m not saying that we won’t have ignorant ethnic bigots who believe only their tribes are perfect,they’ll always be there; the same way we have some individuals in a family who believe the rest are crap. These will be cured in time, and they won’t bring the whole country grinding into a halt.