Remarks By the General Secretary

1. A.     PRELIMINARIES :

• Hon. Dr. Willy Mutunga, Chief Justice and President of the  Supreme Court of Kenya,
• The Swedish Ambassador, His Excellency Johan Borgstam
• The Diakonia Deputy Regional Manager, Mr. Peter Ottoson
• The Diakonia Country Program Manager, Madam Lucy Githaiga
• The Diakonia Implementing partners present
• All the Participants,  Ladies and Gentlemen Good morning

I am greatly honored to join you today as we launch this program on Democracy and Human Rights and make a presentation on the subject: The state of Democracy and Accountability in Kenya. I appreciate and recognize Diakonia’s contribution to national issues particularly in Governance and Promotion of human rights. Similarly, I commend the Embassy of Sweden for the financial resources towards the program. As a representative of the implementing partners, we salute Diakonia’s support and mode of engagement with partners which has been cordial and mutual.

This subject is important and timely. However it will require much more time than 10 minutes to exhaustively share. Nonetheless, I will share some thoughts and highlights for our reflection.

1. B.     SETTING THE STAGE: EVOLUTION OF DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE IN KENYA

Distinguished guests, it is important to underscore that at the core of the discourse of the state and nation building is governance, peace and development. This nexus and interplay is central to any country’s development agenda.

Hon. C.J, it is not lost to us that Kenya like her peers in the region general aspiration for the struggle of independence was to result in democratic governance, economic development and social cohesion for improved social well-being of Africans.

However when the colonial masters relegated their power to the natives, those who took over leadership adopted more or less the same mode of governance. Indeed, the first 30 years of independence in Kenya turned out to be a disappointment both politically and economically.

A sneak preview could be captured as follows:

• The artificiality of the Kenyan State at independence which comprised several ethnic groups worked for Mzee Kenyatta’s regime to engage in politics of patronage leading to a less inclusive government with a strong executive. When Moi succeeded Kenyatta in 1978 the same state of affairs continued with famous Nyayo slogan.
• These culminated in state system which lacked legitimacy, infringed on basic individual rights and enhanced marginalization hence regression towards political and economic decay. 
• The second struggle for democracy was rooted on reversing the dictatorial excesses and opening democratic spaces whose key milestone, the repeal of the infamous section 2A, in December 1991 ushered in multi-party system. 
• Later efforts saw the processes towards constitutionalism and governance reforms. They included the National convention Planning committee (NCPC-NCEC), the Inter-Parties parliamentary Group (IPPG) and Ufungamano initiative.
• The National Rainbow coalition government formed at end of 2002, heralded yet another new promise of democracy which was momentarily realized. But the country experienced unprecedented electoral violence after the disputed presidential election results in 2007.This again, eroded a lot of gains in the area of democracy and political participation.

• The efforts there after, secured the Constitution of Kenya 2010, our key governance instrument. Yet, there is still limited adherence to this legal framework and the culture of the rule of law itself is generally uncertain. The space for basic freedoms and rights appears to be receding by day as are the principles of good governance.

1. C.      MILESTONES

As we might be aware, governance broadly is considered as the exercise of economic, political, and administrative authority to manage a country’s affairs at all levels. Effectively, it entails mechanisms, processes, and institutions through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations, and mediate their differences.

At the core of governance is democracy whose basic requirements should be a popular consensus on how state affairs are conducted and secondly, the governors should be accountable to the governed according to procedures which have been pre-determined.

In Kenya, the key frameworks that anchors this conversation include:

• The Constitution of Kenya
• Vision 2030;  and currently  the Medium Term Plan II
• The Acts of Parliament that establish various legislative frameworks
• Executive Orders 
• Various conventions and Instruments Kenya has ratified
• Various policies at various levels – National and county governments.

Allow me to highlight the Constitutional provisions relevant to this conversation:

• Article 10 of the Constitution sets out key values and principles of Governance.
• ON ACCOUNTABILITY –
  • Article 174 sets out the objects of devolution to include amongst others, to promote democratic and accountable exercise of power, to give powers of self- governance to the people and enhance the participation of the people in the exercise of the powers of the State and in making decisions affecting them
  •  Article 201 sets out the principles of public finance providing for openness and accountability,  public participation in financial matters
  • Article 232 sets out the principles of public service which include involvement of the people in policy making, accountability for administrative acts, transparency and provision to the public of timely, accurate information and  to publish and publicize any important information affecting the nation

Despite these noble legal provisions and other frameworks earlier mentioned Kenya still ranks poorly on a number of governance indicators. I wish to cite a few challenges that we must confront to foster democracy and accountability:

1. D.     CHALLENGES AND ISSUES TO CONFRONT

These are;

• Devolution,
• Corruption,
• Elections and
• Social Cohesion

a). Devolution

The constitution of Kenya 2010 created various institutions and a new governance system with two levels of governments – National and County. Essentially, the devolved structure was meant to address long standing and entrenched marginalization and inequalities in the distribution of power and resources. As we know devolution created 47 County Governments which is a significant dynamic in Kenya’s development agenda.

However in the last two years, Kenyans have been treated to utter display of petty power plays; clamour for and display of power; rampant corruption, misuse of public resources and infighting between County Assemblies and the County Executive; the Senate and National Assembly. This infighting has resulted in Governors and the Executive becoming vulnerable to manipulation by Members of County Assemblies (MCAs). Counties have spent considerable amount of budgets on expensive overseas trips under the guise of benchmarking.

We therefore must work towards improved Inter-governmental relations; Budget and Economic management through legal and policy reforms; eliminate the false national and county governments separation, focus on service provision not elite profiting; end the intergovernmental quarrels. Further strong oversight and accountability for funds and functions must be enhanced.

b). Corruption

Corruption remains a big challenge nationally and in devolved units. Transparency International ranked Kenya at 25/177 in its 2014 Corruption Perception Index. Our news now is full of financial impropriety. Key institutions such as the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, Judiciary, Parliament and Executive among other public institutions have been implicated.

Mismanagement of public resources and weak fiscal management have resulted in huge losses, corruption deals and increased costs of governance. The budget making and utilization process is shrouded in secrecy and non-accountability. The lament by both the office of Controller of Budget and Auditor General is all an all too familiar song with close to 30% of funds being pilfered annually.

This undermines the tenets of good governance. In my view, this rottenness must be dealt with by all. The threat of corruption remains high as long as those accused of corruption go unpunished. The presidency must lead the pack, the citizenry must demand greater accountability, the civil society and media must play their watchdog role as independent institutions to ruthless act on fiscal indiscipline.

c). Elections

Another front of democratic governance that require serious engagement is the electoral processes. Election management which invariably include areas focusing the election management body, registration of voters, civic and voter education; political parties management and nomination; political campaigns; the polling day requirements; supervision including vote casting, observation/monitoring, tallying, results management; the justice sector and closures are critical means to good/lack of governance.

The last general elections of March 2013 were largely characterized as peaceful by most of the observers (Carter Centre Elections report 2013). However some aspects of procedure and management of electoral body and Political Parties have remained subjects of public debate and calls for reform. Other key issues requiring trashing towards elections 2017 include: clearing the air on the election date, the definition of election term and the 2/3 gender principle.

d). The Social Cohesion Discourse

Further to the foregoing issues around devolution and elections is the fact, that Kenya remains divided along ethnic lines. Kenyans first identify with their tribes and religion before they identify with their nation. One of the factors causing the strong ethnic identity situation is that tribes are used as channels to acquire resources; political mobilization and address problems. One’s ethnicity opens doors, and also closes some.

The National cohesion and Integration commission (NCIC) work on social cohesion index of 2013 alludes to these realities. Social media has been awash with hate messages that tell of a society that is on the edge. As the Country prepares for general election in 2017, there must be convincing engagement on national values dialogue and work very seriously to enhance cohesion.

1. E.     The NCCK Engagement

In conclusion, I reiterate that NCCK engagement in her history of 100 years plus, has sought to empower the people in governance processes of the country. NCCK has been engaged in advocacy and influencing policy and legislations; both civic and voter education; social audit and budget tracking to champion accountability and transparency; election observation and advocacy; healing, peace and security; dialogue and mediation among other programmes.

These programmatic outfits have facilitated us to reach out to the people and empower them in keeping to our vision of Transformation – guided by the theme of —Being the light and Salt of the World – in our current corporate plan.

Once again I appreciate the opportunity to speak and pray that the program we are launching today will achieve its objectives.

Thank you very much and God Bless you all.