Ruto allies call for constitutional amendment to onboard Raila after AUC loss

A section of Kenya Kwanza lawmakers and President William Ruto’s close political allies have proposed a constitutional amendment, urging the government to find ways of making former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s wealth of experience useful to the country. This comes hours after Raila lost his African Union Commission (AUC) chairmanship bid to his competitor from Ethiopia, Mahmoud Youssouf Ali.

 Speaking to Citizen TV on Monday morning, Belgut Member of Parliament Nelson Koech proposed that the government should revive the conversation by the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO).

 “Raila is coming back home; what will he be doing with his energy, experience and wisdom? We have to find a structure that will accommodate Raila Odinga. We could relook at the NADCO report,” the MP says.

Through a post on his official X page, Nandi County Senator Samson Cherargei had a similar proposal to relook the constitution and create a Prime Minister seat.

"We must now fully implement the NADCO report by amending the constitution 2010 through creating the office of the Prime Minister (PM) and allowing Rt. Hon. Baba Raila Odinga to serve Kenyans in that capacity," Cherargei shared on his X page on Monday.

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"We cannot allow such brilliant leadership and experience to go to waste the way the African Union did it. This is the only way we can appreciate and reward him for his fight for the rule of law and democracy in Kenya."

 With the president’s close political allies making the utterances, is it possible to amend the constitution?

 On December 7, 2023, Leader of the Majority Party and NADCO Co-Chairperson, Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah tabled the report of the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO) in the National Assembly. The House then adopted the report.

After the 2022 general election, a ten-member taskforce was established to facilitate dialogue and consensus building, recommend appropriate constitutional, legal and policy reforms on issues of concern to the people of Kenya.

 The committee looked into the restructuring and reconstitution of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), boundaries delimitation and audit of the 2022 presidential elections. For this, it recommended the reconstitution of the  IEBC selection panel comprising nine members, a process which is underway.

The establishment and entrenchment of state offices, the issue of the office of the Leader of the Official Opposition and office of the Prime Minister; the committee recommended the establishment and entrenchment of the office of the Leader of the Official Opposition in the constitution in recognition of the value and legitimacy of opposition parties as part of the country’s political system. It also recommended the establishment and entrenchment of an office of the Prime Minister in the constitution as a means of coordination of functions of the executive arm of government.

According to Kenyan law, to make any changes to the constitution, a referendum must be conducted and to conduct any form of election in the country, a working IEBC should be in place.

An IEBC selection panel was formed last month, and they have started the process of recruiting a new IEBC commission.

The panel’s chairperson, Nelson Makanda, has assured that the ongoing process will be completed by the set deadline, aiming to restore a fully functioning electoral body in time for upcoming elections. He said the commission will be fully reconstituted by April 25.

The IEBC is grappling with a constitutional crisis due to the lack of commissioners and the lapse of timelines for the review of constituency and ward boundaries, which was due by March 2024. Similarly, some electoral units have remained without representation for months after the initial representatives died, the latest being Baringo County whose senator passed away Sunday.

Once the IEBC commission assumes office, what will be the priority? Addressing the looming constitutional crisis by conducting by-elections and boundaries delimitation or preparing a referendum to create a Prime Minister position for a veteran politician?