News
Referendum win offers hope for a new dawn
President Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga leave Uhuru Park after launching the 'Yes' campaign on May 15, 2010. Photo/DENNIS OKEYO
Posted Monday, August 2 2010 at 00:00
In ethnically divided countries, losing an election is a high stakes affair.
When, as a leader of a political party, you are trounced at the polls, it means that top civil servants and CEOs of parastatals from your tribe will also lose their jobs.
When Narc came to power in 2002, the Kalenjin elite that had held a stranglehold on power and resources for decades were forced to give way.
Indeed, competition for patronage resources is why the political elite in Kenya find themselves constantly engaged in a fratricidal zero-sum game for control of central government resources.
Kenyan politics is perpetually marred in disagreements over distribution of public service appointments.
Kenya’s proposed constitution represents a brave attempt at redressing the dysfunctional system.
The new requirement that a winning president must win at least 50 per cent of the vote will force the elite to make multi-ethnic alliances and gradually “detribalise” the politics of the country.
Indeed, the current system has proved so prone to violence because elections tended to deepen divisions between specific ethnic communities.
But perhaps the most significant innovation is the proposal to reform the centralised fiscal system.
The constitution stipulates that not less than 15 per cent of revenues collected by the central government must go to the counties.
In addition, it creates an equalisation fund where 0.5 per cent of revenues will be directed to marginal areas of the country.
Thus, what has been done is an attempt to reform the fiscal system to provide for inclusion and to extend resources to all.
Even more significant, the new constitution has introduced a completely new public management system, dismantling the stranglehold and discretionary powers that the Ministry of Finance and the Treasury has maintained in this era, and creating new constitutional offices with new roles and responsibilities.
Two key offices stand out in this regard: the Office of Commissioner of Revenues with ultimate powers of distribution of national revenues; and the Office of the Controller of the Budget to oversee implementation of the budget.
.
