KENYAN CRISIS MORE CONSTITUTIONAL THAN LEGAL

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 02:45:12 -0800 (PST)

KENYANS,

Justice and Constitutional affaires minister Martha Karua chooses to see the current national stalemate in a dualistic view. She does this by claiming that the incumbent won the elections and that ODM should seek redress from the courts due to a disputed election result. I fault her for interpreting a constitutional matter as purely legal. I wish to note that the dispute is political and constitutional than an electoral and legal issue. Kenyans are not only democratic but are able to understand the country’s electoral process. The hard-line stand by some around Kibaki is what is exacerbating further the crisis. Hon. Martha Karua ought to realize that Kenyans cannot be made blind when government deceivingly constitutionalizes electoral misconduct as a constitutional illegality while using selective constitutional interpretations to be in office. Kenyans should know that options for ODM are multiplistic and within the laid down constitutional framework. This include calling for a presidential re-run within 90 days or be allowed to share power equitably with the government for the sake of all Kenyans. What Karua has succeeded in doing is to structure he fate of ODM on a purely legal form than a political cum constitutional item. What Kenyans yean to have is a universally accepted ethical option for all. But are the likes of Karua committed to equally unite the PNU and ODM factions and the rest of Kenyans who are now desperate? Certainly solving an electoral dispute in polar terms is risky and has dictatorial tendencies. The firm stand by PNU is since seen as a structure of the party’s own legal intellect and interpretation and not nationally accepted by the majority. PNU ought to observe the current political uncertainty, not as confusion but democratic diversity that is constitutionally legitimate. Isn’t the political impasse contextual and relative to our current challenge? And relative to the post-election crisis facing us!

Thus any mediation and dialogue should have a variety of valid political and constitutional alternatives than to selfishly restrict ourselves to limited legal interpretations. For going to court would only take us back and forth and for a long time to come. On the other hand, Hon. Karua should cease to be a legal activist and a sectarian politician and government servant and be able to distinguish between a constitutional fact and a political folly. PNU should also know that the questions we all share are more important than the answers they selectively choose to give to Kenyans. We only become worse when we commit ourselves to both knowing and doing than to listen to what others have to say. Lastly, is this institutionalized reverse psychology with a legal basis anchoring a political angle to favor the incumbent?

Regards,
Mundia Mundia Jnr.