Let's make 2012 sing us a better song, 2011 was off-key!

Kenya has had one tragedy after another, there is no day that passes by without a new report of fatal road accidents, massive deaths from fires started at leaking fuel pipelines.  The latest has been the KCPE results fall out.  Children committing suicide because they have "failed" their end of primary school examinations.  Teachers who also do likewise, since they perceive they have failed as teachers.  Principals and teachers being chased away from schools with sticks and stones, irate parents shutting down schools.  I read in a local daily, that there was a suggestion to turn the worst performing school's facilities into a brick making business, since clearly it cannot be used as an institution of learning.

There is talk of changing the education system.  My opinion is, we must realise, when people feel the need to end their lives, it is very rarely because of one event.  Usually, the event is the final straw that breaks the camel's back.  The cost of living is so high, most of us are wound up as tight as a guitar string.  Many of the comforts we occasionally enjoyed have long been forgotten, and now even what we considered bare necessity, we have to do without.  Many families are down to one meal a day dinner.  Many now use charcoal because LPG and Electricity prices are unbelievable.  The festive season has just ended, characterised by high prices of everything, the fuel, the food, the fun, everything cost twice as much, and many did not bother to celebrate at all, they simply sat it out.

Add on top of this the threat from the Al Shabaab.  No fireworks, no street parties, because we could be bombed any time.  There are families that had Christmas without their daddies, because they are in Somalia in Operation Linda Nchi.  Now the year has begun, and we are all waiting to hear the decision from the Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC on the fate of the "Ocampo 6" as they are now famously known.

This is an election year, parties are being formed every morning, and then there is the new Political Parties Act, (that is a whole topic on its own I tell you) that has changed the ball game completely.  Everyone is scrambling to hold party elections to remove politicians from office.  The politicians don't seem to get it, they cannot "own" or "run" parties legally anymore.  Their mistake my gain, since I belong to a newly registered party too, and all our ducks so far seem to be in a row.

We need to pray for this land.  We need a newness, a freshness, so that all we hope to achieve in the implementation of the Constitution as far as Institutional Strengthening is concerned, is actually achieved.  I voted No during the Referendum in 2010, but I have since realised, I had more interest in seeing real change than some so-called "Reformists"  who do things more out of personal gain and political expediency than real genuine love for this land.

This is the year folks, we sink or swim.  Unless we get fed up with all the man-made tragedies and disasters around us, we shall keep having the same issues plaguing us over and over again.  Let us take stock, stand up and be counted.

One-third, two-thirds what is the difference?

I have had a very interesting and eye opening experience today.  In Kenya, there is the case currently in Court about the nominations to the brand new never been seen before in Kenya Supreme Court.  For the benefit of those who do not know what this is, let me break this down for you.  We passed a new Constitution last year that stipulated in it that the composition of all elective and appointive bodies will have to have no more than two thirds of one gender.  The Supreme Court nominations have Two Women and Five Men.  Has the requirement to not have more than two thirds of one gender been met?

The Federation of Women Lawyers Kenya Chapter (FIDA-Kenya) has led a group of several womens organisations to challenge this balance as failing to meet the Constitutional provisions.  The Chief Justice has appointed some reputable Human rights lawyers to defend the Judicial Service Commission in the matter.  Till now, I was a casual observer to this circus, since as you can tell from my earlier posts, my beef with the JSC was on a different tangent, but today they are not lucky, I am on their back again!

Let us do the math.  Two thirds of 7 will give you 4.67 people.  One third will give you 2.33.  Now we know there are no .33 people (duh!) so how do we resolve the impasse?  Article 81(2) of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 reads as follows.


81. The electoral system shall comply with the following principles––
(b) not more than two-thirds of the members of elective public bodies shall be of the same gender;


This means any number less than or equal to two thirds is within the Constitutional confines.  It therefore follows, any such overflow, must be rounded down to ensure the threshold is met.  This means therefore if you have 4.67 rounded off to 5 people, 5 is more than the two thirds MAXIMUM and therefore it cannot be Constitutional. Meaning, .67 takes it over and above and therefore is unconstitutional.  The only solution is to round it off to 4 so that the number of the opposite gender comes up to 3 meeting the threshold of NOT MORE THAN two thirds.

The argument has been on women attaining the one third threshold, but that premise is misleading.  The constitution gives the maximum, and it cannot be exceeded even by one person.  Not getting it yet?  Let me try it another way.  Having 5 members of one gender in a 7 member Court translates to 71.43% of the court being represented by one gender.  Having 2 members of one gender in a 7 member Court translates to 28.57%.  Two thirds would be 66.67%, meaning the current composition of the Supreme Court is 4.76% OVER  the allowed constitutional maximum. This may seem like a small difference but just think of it this way.  We are to have a National Assembly with 350 members.  If it were to be 4.76% off, instead of having 233.33 members of one gender topping the two thirds maximum, you would have 16.6 more members, making the new number 250.  That is 17 members over the limit, but the same 4.76%

I know either you have a eureka moment, or you are shaking your head wondering what I am on about.  The moral of this whole story is this.  The Supreme Court appointments may look like the are off not even by a whole person, so why the big deal.  Think of a protractor, where you measure one degree from another is a single convergent point, but as the lines elongate, it becomes apparent that a degree from another travel very different paths and if you meet them after one kilometre, they will be so far apart.  A builder puts a plumbline to determine whether a wall is straight, because even the smallest deviation, could see the whole structure collapse.  If we are implementing this constitution, lets do it right, otherwise, in future the mess will be bigger than we could have imagined, and may be too late for us to fix.  God bless y'all, as usual, the big children need me to pick them up or the school will fine me 500/= for late pick-up. (seriously, they fine us if we pick the children up late!!)