Ruto rejects referendum calls to implement dialogue report
President Ruto proposes the enactment of relevant laws in the parliament to implement the dialogue report instead of a referendum
President Ruto proposes the enactment of relevant laws in the parliament to implement the dialogue report instead of a referendum.
President William Ruto has rejected calls for a referendum on the implementation of the National Dialogue Committee report’s main recommendations.
The President in 2022 in a memo to the Speakers of the National and Senate Assemblies stated that the country is on the road to recovery after a fiercely contested election.
As a result, the head of state said that using the nation’s current institutional frameworks to implement the key recommendations would not be prudent.
The two-thirds gender rule, the legalization of constituency development, Senate oversight, and government affirmative action funds, the establishment of the office of the leader of the official opposition, and improved parliamentary oversight were some of the major proposals that were thought to require a referendum.
“I am sensitive to the current state of our nation, which is settling down after a long season of vigorous political mobilization,” the President said in the memoranda dated December 9, 2023.
“For this reason, it is important that we endeavor to pursue only those pathways to institutional changes by means which do not entail the resumption of disruptive and potentially divisive mobilization for a referendum, or campaigning.”
To implement the four key issues, the President has proposed to the two speakers to initiate relevant constitutional amendments.
On the two-thirds gender rule, for instance, the President has proposed to the parliament to enact a constitutional amendment establishing a formula to guide the computation of the gender rule in the National Assembly.
This, he said, should be based only on the number of those members elected from the constituency (National Assembly) and counties (Senate) per article 97(1)(a) and 98(1)(a) respectively.
“The proposed amendment can be set out under Art. 97(3),” Ruto proposed.
On the creation of the office of the Official Opposition, the President backed the idea saying the Idea is long overdue.
He said the minority parliamentary leadership is not enough to help the opposition to check on the government.
Ruto said the proposal makes tremendous sense in terms of institutionalising governance strengthening oversight and deepening democracy.
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“The time has come for us to explore the possibility of remedying this shortcoming,” Ruto said.
“I therefore propose that Parliament consider an amendment to Chapter Nine, Part IV of the constitution to establish the office of the Leader of the Official Opposition, with its operational dimensions to be provided for in consequential legislation.”
On entrenching the NH-CDF fund into the constitution, the President said the existing amendments to that effect are sufficient to propose a reality.
“I am encouraged to note that the 13th Parliament is very much alive to the imperative of this moment, and has already taken up the issue through the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2022,” Ruto said.
The proposed insertion of Article 204A to establish the National Government Constituency Development, Senate Oversight, and the National Government Affirmative Action Funds to be drawn out of the national government’s shareable revenue, in my considered opinion, are sufficient for purposes of conformity with the express and implicit parameters set out by the constitutional court.”
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