Politics: The Game of Temporary Convenience

By Soko Directory Team / Published May 24, 2016 | 12:45 pm

University Students Protesting

The CORD coalition took to the streets to demand the removal of IEBC, the electoral body in the country.

It is now week three but the demonstration are growing bigger and bigger each passing day. Monday has been dubbed “tear gas Monday” because it has become the norm to get teargas canisters lobbed at you by anti-riot police.

The Independent and Electoral and Boundary Commission (IEBC) has stayed put not because they want but because they are protected by the Constitution.

In article 251 of the Kenyan constitution ‘’A person desiring the removal of a member of a commission or of a holder of an independent office on any ground specified in clause (1) may present a petition to the national assembly setting out the alleged facts constituting that ground”.

It continues to clearly outline the steps to be followed once the petition is on the floor of the national assembly. If the members are found guilty of the allegations by the tribunal appointed by the president then (and only then) will the removal from office be carried through.

About the demonstrations, article 37 of the Kenyan constitution clearly states “Every person has the right, peaceably and unarmed, to assemble, to demonstrate, to picket, and to present petitions to public authorities”.

Looking at that part of the Constitution it’s clear that something went wrong from the word go.

We have a constitution that is supposed to safeguard the citizens of the country and when it is ignored then things go out of hand.

If the leaders took the matters to the floor of the house, there would be no demonstrations, no teargassing and no disruption of business. Now we have demonstrations every Monday with violent demonstrators going out to disrupt the lives of Kenyans countrywide.

3 Kenyans have so far lost their lives with many other sustaining serious injuries. No justification for what the police have done but all this could have been avoided by following the constitution.

The police used force but they were reacting to a group of demonstrators who were armed. The officers too are human; do we think of the police officers manning the demonstration. What if that huge stone hit one on them?

We are burning our country and it is really shameful. Tourists will flee from the country and so will investors, after which we will blame the government for the poor economy of thew country.

When will we learn that Kenya is greater than any one of us and politics is a game of convenience? When will say to politicians who wants to watch to our beloved country burn?

When this Country burns (God forbid) it is me and you, the common Mwananchi, who will suffer. The politicians on the other hand will take flights to distant lands of safety and watch the chaos unfold from a safe distance.

We should agree to disagree and after that move on with life just like they do. If you look closely at our politicians, one time or another, they have worked with each other, albeit under different political affiliations.

When one is affected, they stand together and forget their political differences. If it’s a lesson we need in politics we should learn from the politicians themselves. Remember, dear fellow Kenyan, politics is a game of convenience.

Article by Amina Mbuthia.

About Soko Directory Team

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