INTERVIEW
Munya: Kibaki must act firm and tough
By Njonjo Kihuria
QUESTION: What is the significance of the Cabinet
reshuffle?
PETER MUNYA: President Kibaki may have been a bit
cautious, but this is what we have been expecting him to do. We expect the government to
be stronger now that Kibaki has put the LDP rebels on notice. Shut up or lose your job, is
the message Kibaki has sent to these rebels.
How much value did the President’s statement on
Monday add to the constitutional review process?
He basically stated what the Consensus Building Group has
been saying — that without talking to one another, without dealing with the
contentious issues and unlocking the process, we will get nowhere. He also put his stamp
of authority on that process by giving approval to what the Consensus Group was doing; he
was giving direction.
Did you expect more?
Of course, I would have expected the President to say
something about his ministers who are running around contradicting what he is saying; I
would have expected him to say something for us to know he is not happy with what they are
doing.
Is he providing leadership?
There are different styles of leadership, but we have
reached a stage where we are asking the President to do something.
He has been too patient and I think this is the time for
him to act. I expect Kibaki to replace errant Cabinet ministers with other capable MPs,
but I still give him the benefit of the doubt; maybe he is waiting for the right moment.
What is the significance of the new consensus Bill?
The President wanted the Bill by Justice minister Kiraitu
Murungi withdrawn as it was not taking into consideration the ruling by Mr Justice Aaron
Ringera. The new Bill takes cognisance of the changed legal environment following the
judgment. The new Bill outlines the process, but does not deal with the contentious
issues. This will form the second step where after the Bill has been passed, MPs will look
into the changes that need to be brought into the draft.
Basically what we are going to do is to pass a law that
requires the Attorney General to bring the Bomas Draft to Parliament, but also make an
amendment to the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission Act, allowing MPs to make changes
to the draft. If the process fails, if we lose in the referendum, the old Constitution
remains.
Do you believe the pre-election MoU should be
re-negotiated?
You do not re-negotiate something when both parties are not
acting in good faith; both parties have reached a stage where talking to and working with
each other is not possible.
The coalition, if you ask me, is as dead as a dodo and what
NAK should do now is look for other partners in Parliament.
Would the now cancelled political rallies organised for
today, have made any difference to the review process?
In my opinion, we do not need both rallies but one group
has said it will hold a rally as it thinks it has Kenyans behind it and it wants to show
the whole country that this government is against a new constitution.
The other group also believes they have Kenyans behind it
and they had called for an alternative rally to demonstrate that this government still has
support.
But now that the government has declared the rallies
illegal, we are calling off the Kamukunji meeting.
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