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The debilitation of the Kenyan constitutional Amendment Act of 2010 has been confirmed by the current decision by the High Court of Kenya. First, the scrapping of the qualification for contesting as a Member of County Assembly from at least form four certificates to only being able to read and write. Second, he minimum of contesting as a Member of Parliament has been reduced to at least a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education.

Article Six a Mockery

Last week Judge Antony Mrima quashed the requirement of a minimum of obtaining a university degree from an accredited university for contesting for a governor position and compared the requirement for a Member of the County Assembly. The next thing we will hear is the abolishing of the requirement of a degree holder for the presidential general election. This means that Article Six of the Constitution Amendment Act 2010 has been made a mockery of and anybody with adequate funds can contest for any position in Kenya.

Section 99(3) of the Constitution Amendment Act 2010

Section 99(3) of the Constitution Amendment Act 2010 states that anybody who is charged with any offense including rape, murder, and economic crime has a right to bail and is free to continue with whatever he/she was doing until the exhaustion of appeals up to Supreme Court of Kenya. The processing of these appeals has been seen to take plenty of time and even years before they are concluded.

President Ruto’s Nominations

The issue of two people who have been nominated by President Ruto to the cabinet secretary positions is a case in point. One was accused of attempted rape and another of murder. If they are cleared by the Members of Parliament, they could in theory use their high position to subvert their wrongdoing and even be acquitted without recourse to those they wronged.

The suggestion by most citizens is that these two and some with questionable characters should not be cleared by the Members of Parliament and the president should appoint new people with adequate credentials to replace them.

Cases Take Years

The current situation where the Judiciary takes years to determine the various cases makes a mockery of the jurisprudence of getting remedy for offenses committed.

Take, for example, the cabinet secretaries and senior government officials who were charged with various offenses about two years ago who have not had their cases concluded and all of them are on bail. Those who chose to contest for various positions were allowed to do so and some won the seats. These people could use their high positions to subvert their cases and even enjoy their freedom. A case in point is those involved in Arror and Kimwarer dams’ scandal.

The general opinion of most Kenyan citizens is to seek repeal of some Acts of Constitution Amendment 2010 to remove automatic bails to suspects of murder, rape of minors below 18 years, and economic crimes and to be refused bail until their cases are completed and they declared innocent. The cases should also be concluded within six months from the time they are charged.

More Time to Decide Election Result

Another act that should be repealed before the next general elections in 2027, is deciding on the appeal of the contested presidential general election from 14 days to one month, and the regulations and rules of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

Meanwhile, the sitting president should be allowed to continue with his reign until the president-elect is confirmed or a runoff produces a new president-elect.

If this Constitution Amendment Act 2010 is not amended soon and some of the offending chapters, are repealed or replaced, no remedy will be realized or cases proceeded with if Wanjiku takes action to oppose any cases deemed to be offensive to them.