Proletarian Ultra
5th August 2010, 20:35
As expected, the US Embassy and Kenya's internationally-oriented bourgeoisie triumphed over the landlord class, the bishops and American fundamentalist missionaries.
Kenyan voters have approved a new constitution, according to preliminary results released Thursday, with almost 70% in favor. Leaders of the anti-constitution camp conceded defeat before the final result, expected to be announced by the Interim Independent Electoral Commission late Thursday.
According to the preliminary results, about 5.2 million of the country's 12.7 million voters voted in favor of the constitution, which proponents said could end decades of poor governance and corruption, and 2.3 million opposed the draft. Ninety-two of the 210 constituencies had been counted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-kenya-constitution-passes-20100806,0,165605.story
Was having the vote on Obama's birthday a coincidence? I'm not sure, but the American diplomatic corps was sure pushing hard for it; so much that it attracted the notice of some Republican members of Congress.
"This is an administration that is very aggressive in promoting the killing of unborn children and the wounding of their mothers by way of abortion worldwide," Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said. http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2010/August/US-Taxpayers-Funding-Constitution-Vote-in-Kenya/ (Pat Robertson's news service)
Officially the churches don't like it because it allows for abortion when a woman's life is in danger. (The abortion language was written to be as restrictive as possible while still being in compliance with international treaty law). That and the allowance for Islamic family law courts was the stated reason for the churches' opposition, but the real sticking point was land. The new constitution provides for an independent land commission to preside over registration of land titles and inquire into unlawful land seizures. That's a weak-ass substitute for real land reform but it was too much for the large landholders (whom the churches represent and which they are themselves).
The alliance of the US radical right with African reactionaries is the same thing we saw in the runup to Uganda's "kill the gays" law.
Now that it has passed, under the new constitution:
Cabinet members cannot be members of the legislature (which they had to be before) but must be confirmed by the legislature (which they didn't have to be before).
The president can be impeached. Cabinet members can be removed by a vote of no confidence.
48 county governments will be set up, and 15% of the national government's revenue will be directed toward them.
Numerous independent commissions will come into being, including the land commission, civil service and judiciary selection commissions, etc.
Legislative districts will be redrawn every 10 years by an independent boundary commission (which they weren't before).
A certain number of seats in the legislature. will be reserved for women, youth and people with disabilities.
There will now be an upper house, with power only on matters related to county governance.
Boo urns for including even a weak upper house.
Cool constitutional-design things it does not include:
No prime minister position, which early drafts had included.
No proportional representation.
No right of legislative initiative for the executive.
That last point might be a little non-obvious, but it's generally been a part of more progressive constitutions (e.g. the new Venezuelan and Bolivian ones) and it does tend to produce more broadly populist policy outcomes.
Overall, the new constitution is characterized by a rather touching faith in technocracy, with the multiplication of independent commissions, and the implicit assumption that non-legislator cabinet secretaries will be more competent and less corrupt than legislator-ministers. The evidence if anything is for the opposite.
Kind of a shit choice to have to pick between the US Embassy on the one hand and reactionary bishops on the other - between finance capital and landed capital, between Pat Robertson's mission society and Barack Obama's state department. I think on balance this is a progressive move, if nothing else then because the previous constitution was heinous. Unless landlordism can mount an effective counterattack we are likely to see greater penetration of international capital into East Africa and an expansion of the wage system over existing regimes of sharecropping and corvee labor.
Kenyan voters have approved a new constitution, according to preliminary results released Thursday, with almost 70% in favor. Leaders of the anti-constitution camp conceded defeat before the final result, expected to be announced by the Interim Independent Electoral Commission late Thursday.
According to the preliminary results, about 5.2 million of the country's 12.7 million voters voted in favor of the constitution, which proponents said could end decades of poor governance and corruption, and 2.3 million opposed the draft. Ninety-two of the 210 constituencies had been counted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-kenya-constitution-passes-20100806,0,165605.story
Was having the vote on Obama's birthday a coincidence? I'm not sure, but the American diplomatic corps was sure pushing hard for it; so much that it attracted the notice of some Republican members of Congress.
"This is an administration that is very aggressive in promoting the killing of unborn children and the wounding of their mothers by way of abortion worldwide," Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said. http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2010/August/US-Taxpayers-Funding-Constitution-Vote-in-Kenya/ (Pat Robertson's news service)
Officially the churches don't like it because it allows for abortion when a woman's life is in danger. (The abortion language was written to be as restrictive as possible while still being in compliance with international treaty law). That and the allowance for Islamic family law courts was the stated reason for the churches' opposition, but the real sticking point was land. The new constitution provides for an independent land commission to preside over registration of land titles and inquire into unlawful land seizures. That's a weak-ass substitute for real land reform but it was too much for the large landholders (whom the churches represent and which they are themselves).
The alliance of the US radical right with African reactionaries is the same thing we saw in the runup to Uganda's "kill the gays" law.
Now that it has passed, under the new constitution:
Cabinet members cannot be members of the legislature (which they had to be before) but must be confirmed by the legislature (which they didn't have to be before).
The president can be impeached. Cabinet members can be removed by a vote of no confidence.
48 county governments will be set up, and 15% of the national government's revenue will be directed toward them.
Numerous independent commissions will come into being, including the land commission, civil service and judiciary selection commissions, etc.
Legislative districts will be redrawn every 10 years by an independent boundary commission (which they weren't before).
A certain number of seats in the legislature. will be reserved for women, youth and people with disabilities.
There will now be an upper house, with power only on matters related to county governance.
Boo urns for including even a weak upper house.
Cool constitutional-design things it does not include:
No prime minister position, which early drafts had included.
No proportional representation.
No right of legislative initiative for the executive.
That last point might be a little non-obvious, but it's generally been a part of more progressive constitutions (e.g. the new Venezuelan and Bolivian ones) and it does tend to produce more broadly populist policy outcomes.
Overall, the new constitution is characterized by a rather touching faith in technocracy, with the multiplication of independent commissions, and the implicit assumption that non-legislator cabinet secretaries will be more competent and less corrupt than legislator-ministers. The evidence if anything is for the opposite.
Kind of a shit choice to have to pick between the US Embassy on the one hand and reactionary bishops on the other - between finance capital and landed capital, between Pat Robertson's mission society and Barack Obama's state department. I think on balance this is a progressive move, if nothing else then because the previous constitution was heinous. Unless landlordism can mount an effective counterattack we are likely to see greater penetration of international capital into East Africa and an expansion of the wage system over existing regimes of sharecropping and corvee labor.