Section 2

Governance: Returning Government to the People

ODM-K believes in the authentic meaning of democracy whereby Government resides with the people; that is, the people of Kenya will participate in the governing process to the fullest possible extent, government will be fully accountable to the people, the security of every Kenyan will be guaranteed, and public institutions will perform their duties to the Kenyan people with professional independence and impartiality.

ODM-K will therefore implement this policy along five dimensions:

(a) Devolution of Government to District and Location Levels

ODM-Kenya believes that national resources that are controlled by the central government have to be shared equitably, resources that are locally available in the provinces and districts have to be utilized optimally for faster local development, and the enormous knowledge and expectations of the local communities has to be tapped through opportunities for grassroots participation in decision making and action in local matters. All of these valued goals can be realized through a devolved structure of government.

A devolved system of government will allow the transfer of resources to district and local councils along with decision-making responsibility for planning, local resource mobilization, budgeting and implementation of programs.

Furthermore, devolution is inherently demands tight accountability in expenditure of public funds and utilization of material resources for the benefit of the Kenyan people. The present centralized system of government removes responsibility from the grassroots in favor of insensitive, usually unaccountable central government officials far away in Nairobi.

(b) Redistribution of Executive Powers

ODM-K believes that the current ills in government such as corruption and non-accountability arise from the concentration of the power and authority of the state in the presidency and the emasculation of the capability of other public institutions that are intended to ensure the due checks and balances in the transaction of public affairs. ODM-K will initiate constitutional and legal reform to disperse presidential powers appropriately to other public institutions and offices as well as to the citizens themselves so as to curb abuse of office and ensure that government is accountable to the citizens.

ODM-K will therefore ensure:

i. Successful completion of the process of constitutional reform and implementation of a new, appropriate constitution within the first year of office

ii. Creation of the positions of Deputy President, Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers

iii. Vetting of senior public appointments through the National Assembly; officials such as judges of the High Court, Electoral Commission of Kenya officials, and parastatal chiefs, and Ambassadors and High Commissioners

iv. Introduction of affirmative action to boost women’s participation in public affairs

v. Appointment of a National Youth Commission to manage youth affairs and establishment of modalities to guarantee involvement of the youth in public decision making. That is, the youth will not be leaders of tomorrows, but the leaders of today

(c) Autonomy of Public Institutions

Public institutions are important technical agencies that provide specialized social, economic, and administrative services to Kenyans, institutions such as the civil service, parastatal organizations, the Judiciary, National Assembly, Electoral Commission of Kenya, the disciplined forces, and the Attorney General’s Office. However, our public institutions are currently under the very tight control of the president and his ministers. The Executive employs these supposedly independent and impartial institutions to disburse patronage, circumvent established rules and procedures and thereby provide services based on the political expediency of a case rather than on universal, impartial, and predictable criteria that are acceptable to all Kenyans.

ODM-K government will re-establish and guarantee the professional autonomy of public institutions through fundamental reforms that will:

i. Ensure that appointments to senior positions are de-politicized through introduction of a competitive recruitment process that only attracts and hires the most qualified persons, subject to the lawfully established demands of affirmative action

ii. Introduce laws and constitutional amendments to underline and safeguard the independent power and authority as well as the impartiality and competence of every public officials and public agency

iii. Establish independent commissions to oversee the human resource management function of all parastatals

(d) Elimination of Corruption, Lethargy and Inefficiency

Corruption is a perennial problem that every government pretends to be fighting yet not fighting mostly because key figures in each of the successive governments are not innocent of this serious vice.

Corruption has therefore continued to make a very negative impact on Kenya’s economic growth and on the ability of the people to realize the gains of democracy, especially equality, freedom and individual rights.

ODM-K will undertake to wage and win the struggle against corruption if the economic, social, and governance goals that are outlined in this manifesto and which reflect the aspirations of the Kenyan people are to be realized.

ODM-Kenya will aim at zero tolerance of all corruption.

ODM-Kenya has a clean leadership that takes personal integrity, reliability and accountability as the core values. An ODM-Kenya government can therefore be relied upon to institute practical measures to end corruption. The party will take stern measures:

i. Corruption in Kenya will become a practice of the past and no longer part of the Kenyan society

ii. Existing anti-corruption agencies will be conferred with the necessary authority and independence that they each require to be able to enforce the established laws freely without undue interference especially from already guilty politicians

iii. Corruption offenders will be punished without regard to their political or social status in society

iv. Transparency in discharge of official duties will be guaranteed through the publication of "high risk lists" of the agencies that are most vulnerable to fraud, wastage, abuse or mismanagement

(e) Security of Our People

The Kenyan society is today held hostage by an unacceptable cycle of crime, violence, and insecurity. Families that spent the night peacefully and peacefully went off to work in the morning, leaving homes safe and secure now leave work to return to a house that has been broken into or into the waiting hands of burglars, armed robbers or, carjackers. Pastoral communities have to live with the menace of cattle rustling virtually every day. Child molestation and abuse, rape, and domestic violence are steadily becoming commonplace in our otherwise great country. Insecurity destroys lives and property, breeds fear, discourages investment and social progress, and disrupts work and all development activities.

Furthermore, communities that have in the past lived in peace and harmony with each other in the past now commonly engage in violent clashes that have led to heavy loss of life and property. Why should some of our people live as Internally Displaced Persons in our own country?

Our security forces are among the best trained in the world. Therefore, the prevalence of insecurity must be attributed to political interference in with the professional independence of security institutions and professional conduct of security operations.

ODM-K believes that insecurity is a major obstacle to national development and must be stemmed immediately. The ODM-K government will therefore:

i. Insulate the security forces from politicization

ii. Modernize the facilities that security forces require for effective protection of citizens

iii. Improve the welfare of the disciplined forces

iv. Improve the ratio of police officers to wananchi from the present level of 1:1,000 to a professional standard of 1:400.