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"content": "back to the colonial period. In the colonial period, we had a Governor. We did not have a Legislature and the Crown was totally in power. So, immediately after Independence, most African States crawled back on the rights of the people and to bring in a Presidential System of Government without the checks that go with it. So, we had what one African scholar called Presidentialism. This phenomenon involves the centralization of State power in the hands of an Executive President. When most African States gained Independence, attempts were made to blend the Westminster style Cabinet Government with an American version of Presidential power. In the majority of cases, the functions of the Head of State and the Chief Executive were immediately fused in the Office of the President while others, soon thereafter, adopted this approach. In most States, soon after Independence, the constitutional President became un easy with the demands and the challenges of the position. The President began groping for absolute power and for a constitutional order that would increasingly allow him to operate outside the scriptures of the Constitution. This was achieved by constant amendments of the Constitution or removal of any resistance on the Presidential power and to give excessive power to the President. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in our case, many constitutional amendments were passed immediately after Independence. The first ten amendments went towards dismantling the Federal original System of Government. Another list of amendments went ahead to whittle down any checks and balances that the Constitution had. So, the problem with the imperial Presidency was not in increasing the powers of the President, but indeed, in decreasing the powers of the other arms of the Government or completely removing any checks the presidency had. If I was to mention one or two of those amendments, Amendment No.15 made in 1975 was to enable a person who had committed an electoral offence and, therefore, been disqualified from standing in future elections for five years to be given reprieve by the President. This is allegedly an amendment which was brought because a friend of the President then had been convicted of an election offence and the President wished to have that friend stand for elections. In 1982, the famous amendment which said that there shall be in Kenya only one political party, the Kenya African National Union (KANU) was passed by this Legislature. In 1986, the post of Chief Secretary was abolished and the President could appoint Permanent Secretaries and security of tenure for the Attorney-General and the Auditor-General were removed. In 1987, by virtue of Amendment No.23, people who were charged with capital offences could no longer access bail. In 1988 by virtue of Amendment No.24, the security of tenure for the Public Service Commission and the High Court and the Court of Appeal judges was removed. Thereafter, through constant pressure and agitation, in 1990, the tide started turning. So, from 1990, we have a series of amendments which pull towards going back on some of the massive powers that had been taken by the President and bringing back some of the checks. So, in 1991, Section 2(A) was repealed and in 1997, we had the Inter-Parties Parliamentary Group (IPPG) package which brought in nominated Members to be sent by political parties and which increased the members of the Electoral Commission of Kenya from four to 21 members. Mr. Speaker, Sir, be that as it may, even after those amendments, the need for a complete overhaul of the constitutional order could not be more urgent. From then on, there was a major push for the complete overhaul of the Constitution. Indeed, there was a complete failure of most of the institutions of the State. There was need for legal reforms,"
}