NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 15 — The Law Society of Kenya has opposed proposals by President William Ruto to have the Constitution amended tearing down into key proposals including creation of the Office of Leader of Opposition.
LSK stated that the Leader of Opposition slot conflicts the country’s system of separation of powers terming its institutionalization impractical.
Speaking during a press conference on Thursday, LSK President Eric Theuri further said the proposals are unconstitutional, faulting President Ruto’s approach to utilize a parliamentary route as opposed to allowing a referendum.
“We call on Parliament and all right thinking Kenyans to resist the attempt to mutilate our Constitution to change the basic structure of our Constitution to accommodate an office that is not in consonance with the Presidential of governance that this country gave itself when it adopted the 2010 Constitution,” Theuri said.
“We have a system of government that is largely presidential, and the president comes from the coalition that forms the majority and there is another coalition that forms the minority. That is the structure that we picked for this country. You cannot therefore introduce the leader of the opposition. That amendment in itself does not conform to the current constitutional structure that we have. It should not even be discussed in Parliament.”
He urged the Members of Parliament to reject and defend the Constitution which is supreme.
Theuri pointed out that the President’s memorandum is against the Supreme Court ruling on the Building Bridges Initiative where judges reaffirmed positions take by both the Constitutional Court and Court of Appeal that the Head of State cannot initiate a Constitutional Amendment.
“The amendment are being initiated by the President contrary to the decision in the BBI case and therefore they should not see the light of day in Parliament there being a clear precedence that has been set by the courts those amendments should not be entertained by Parliament,” Theuri said.
The Head of State has written to Parliament to consider introducing constitutional amendment Bills to set up the Office of Opposition Leader and reestablish Constituency Development Fund.
He also proposed an increase in the number of nominated MPs and asked Parliament to amend Standing Orders to allow Cabinet Secretaries (CSs) to directly answer questions on the floor of the House as an oversight mechanism.
On Sunday, President Ruto said empowered opposition will ensure public resources are utilized properly by the government.
“I am a great believer in an accountable government. That is why we want our oversight institutions, Parliament and the Opposition to be empowered so that they can ensure that public resources are used properly and appropriately so that we can run an accountable administration because an accountable administration is the one that will bring transformation to the Republic of Kenya,” President Ruto said.
He stated that although his government is ready to be rectified and told when it is not heading to the right trajectory, the process of doing so should be peaceful.
“We have no problem with our opposition, we are not afraid of being rectified and reminded on where we are going wrong. They do their job and we do ours as long as we all do our mandate in a patriotic and a peaceful manner for the benefits of Kenyans,” Ruto said.
