From: odhiambo okecth
Date: Wed, Aug 19, 2009 at 4:14 AM
Subject: Re: LET’S HAVE A 42 MEMBER ALL-ETHNIC PRESIDIUM TO HEAD THE STATE
Ethnicity is something we cannot avoid, but doing this, we will be taking it to a new absurd level.

In this age and time, it is us Kenyans who need to demystify ethnicity and tribalism. We have proved it before but we were brought back to it by retrogressive forces.

Take a look at the Referendum of 2005 November; Kenyans united to shoot down the Wako Draft and therein, we proved that ethnicity and tribalism has no place in modern Kenya.

Again, in the elections of 2007, Kenyans once again stood out in quality in support of one country. People who had lost the elections had started talking good and congratulating ODM, then Martha Karua and her team came to town and brought back the ethnic tensions.

Kenyans are very good people. We love each other and we work well with each other. But when the politicians appear, things tend to go ethnic and tribal. We only need to find a way of dealing with these 220 people.

They are the curse of Kenya. Maybe, we need to talk to God to visit a Sodom and Gomorrah on them so that Kenya can be cleansed.

The only problem is that we do not have people who can talk to God directly nowadays. The current men and women of god talk to God through Mpesa.

Odhiambo T Oketch
From Talking to Tasking

— On Wed, 8/19/09, Madaraka Party Kenya wrote:

From: Madaraka Party Kenya
Subject: LET’S HAVE A 42 MEMBER ALL-ETHNIC PRESIDIUM TO HEAD THE STATE
Date: Wednesday, August 19, 2009, 12:45 AM

LET’S HAVE A 42 MEMBER ALL-ETHNIC PRESIDIUM TO HEAD THE STATE

Since every tribe want to have a chance at the presidency, let’s give them the chance to elect one of their own to sit at the Presidium. And since every politicians wants to speak only for their tribe, let’s give them the chance to represent their tribes by contesting for a chance to represent their tribe at the Presidium.
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[Madaraka Party Proposal for Discussion on Devolution of the Presidency]
After listening to your views in the past two weeks, the party review committee has come up with an optimal solution on how to structure a democratic and inclusive executive.
REMEMBER: This is a a mere proposal–not a prescription. Please let us hear your views. Whatever you say will help finetune the party’s final submission to the Constitutional Review team.

THE PRIME MINISTER AS HEAD OF GOVERNMENT
In this proposal, the government would be headed by a Prime Minister, who would be the leader of the party with 50 percent plus one MPs. In a situation no party attains a majority in parliament, a combination of parties may form a coalition. The leader of the party with the largest number of MPs in the coalition automatically becomes the Prime Minister.

If one of the coalition partners withdraws, parliament need not be dissolved like is the case in most parliamentary systems. This would ensure political stability and each parliament would serve a full term of five years no matter the combination of governing parties constituting the government at any one time. The prime ministership may change hands as many times as coalition partners align and realign within the lifespan of a parliament.

The fact that the prime minister may be removed very easily without MPs returning to the polls is a boon for taxpayers as it would end the type of collusion that we now have in Kenya which is not a a real coalition but a conspiracy by parliamentarians to create a no-party state by perpetually patching up non performing GNU s (Governments of National Unity), ensuring there is no opposition in parliament, and therefore no accountability or transparency of performance evaluation.

THE PRESIDIUM
Each ethnic group in Kenya would conduct an election and elect one of their own to represent them in the presidium which would serve as a collective head of state. Unlike parliament where representation is based on population size, representation in the presidium is based on ethnicity. Each ethnic group however large or small shall be entitled to one presidium member. Asian Kenyans may constitute one group in spite of being from various ethnic and national backgrounds. Euro Kenyans may also constitute one group irrespective of language differences.

The presidium members would serve two five years terms and would each be paid a salary equivalent to that of an MP. When we add all the money being wasted today paying the president, his wife, servants, office staff, entourage, body guards, vehicles, airplanes and numerous other perks, this salary is small in comparison.

The presidium would meet every week to review weekly developments that touch on the country’s constitution and security. The country’s ombudsman would be answerable to the presidium, and all conflict of interest cases as well as abuse of office or corruption complaints against the prime minister ministers, MPs, attorney general, chief justice and judges would be reported to them for arbitration. If they find the prime minister has contravened the constitution for example or has committed an indictable offense then they would recommend that the prime minister be charged in a court of law. In such a situation the prime minister would step aside, and the governing party would elect a successor from among its MPs.

The Chairship of the Presidium would rotate among the members every six months, automatically on an alphabetical order of the ethnic groups they represent. The chair of the Presidium would be the nominal head of state during the tenure as chair. This provision would mean that every ethnic group would have chance at heading the country every 21 years.

Given that Moi alone ruled for 24 years, and that in 50 years of its existence, Kenya would have only three presidents from two ethnic groups, 21 years is quite a good time to have the chairship rotating. In any case the chair would never make unilateral decisions. The chair is simply the spokesperson who may address the press or swear in foreign diplomats, receive foreign dignitaries, or represent Kenya in foreign functions.

Why is it necessary to have each ethnic group represented irrespective of size? The answer is that the Presidium is not about numerical strength, but about embracing our diversity and recognizing each group that constitutes the Kenyan nation as equal partners in the polity no matter the size.

The eight large ethnic groups will no longer appear to be the ones in the limelight while minority groups are treated like second class citizens in their own country. A minority group that feels they are being treated unfairly because they may be too small to even have an MP to fight for them in parliament will now have a strong voice with an equal visibility and power at the highest office of the land. This will have a really liberating and ‘enobling” effect. It will make Kenya nicer society.

The election of the presidium and that of parliament will be staggered so that during parliamentary elections, the Presidium will be in charge. The Prime Minister will resign as Prime Minister on the dissolution of parliament and hand over the instruments of power to the Presidium. There can be no prime minister without a parliament.

There will be, thus, zero chance of the sitting Prime Minister using state resources to ensure reelection. Parliamentary elections would be fixed as second Monday of August every five years. Each parliament would sit from September 1 on Election year and be dissolved on July 1 on the next election year, allowing for about 6 weeks of campaigning.

A Case Example:

The Presidium of the German Bundestag consists of the President of the Bundestag and a variable number (currently 4) of Vice-Presidents of the Bundestag.

The president is elected by all members the Bundestag during its first meeting; he almost always comes from the largest Fraktion in the Bundestag (tradition has made this a sort of unwritten law). His administration ends with the end of a legislature; he can, however, be re-elected, as long as he is also re-elected to the Bundestag.

In 1994 it was decided that every Fraktion in the Bundestag should be represented by a vice-president.

The most important role of the president is the direction of the Bundestag sittings.

To demonstrate the importance of the parliament in Germany’s democracy, the parliament’s president receives a higher salary than the Chancellor and the Federal President.

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The establishment of Madaraka party means holding fast to the principle of solving for oneself all the problems in conformity with the actual conditions of one’s country, mainly by one’s own efforts. This is an independent stand of discarding the spirit of dependence on others, displaying the spirit of self-reliance, and solving ones own affairs on ones own responsibilities under all circumstances.

Thus the concept of Madaraka, simply “self-reliance,” as it is often translated, but also includes the “spirit” and the goal of maintaining total independence, of trusting no other nation, and solving its own problems without foreign interference with its sovereignty.

Our objective is socio-economic transformation and sustainable prosperity for Kenya.
Join fellow progressives in charting a new vision for a new era.

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