KAIKAI KICKER: Spineless custodians are a threat to the constitutional provisions on leadership and integrity

On my kicker, I refuse to give up on the leadership and integrity provisions of the Constitution of Kenya 2010. And my wish is to see an overwhelming majority of Kenyans refusing to give up on Chapter 6 of the Constitution despite the very trying times and attendant ugly signs.

Something very strange is going on. Supposed custodians of the leadership and integrity articles of the Constitution have been giving up on it at an alarming rate. Like hopeless hostages, the custodians of Chapter six of our Constitution have been throwing their hands up in the air like hopeless hostages, one after the other. And just like hostages desperate for freedom, the supposed custodians of Chapter six have been poetic and eloquent in their effusion of excuses as to why they can no longer protect the leadership and integrity articles of the Constitution.

It was the turn of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) this week and its take on leadership and integrity was something of a decoration of a worrying trend. IEBC told the court this week that it will not stop aspirants with integrity questions or cases from running for elective office. So whether an aspirant for office has a corruption case or murder charge, the IEBC says they all have a right to seek office. Combined with the concerns expressed by Interior CS Fred Matiang'i about the background information about some aspirants for office, this should be spine-chilling stuff.

Speaking to a gathering of senior Anglican clergy this week, Matiang'i warned that the aspirants' list reads like a litany of some of the worst social wrongs. Official intelligence, Matiang’i said, showed an aspirants list dominated by hardcore criminals whose deeds include money laundering and drug dealing among others. These are the aspirants the IEBC says they would not stop from running for office unless there is an express court order barring the individuals from running for elective office. The IEBC is of course quick to base its argument on the 2013 High Court decision that cleared Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto to run for office despite facing crimes against humanity charges at at the ICC.

While we all know, the 2013 decision on UhuRuto did not suspend the leadership and integrity provisions, I leave it to the IEBC to exercise  the proverbial choices of a drunkard - to either use a lamp post for illumination or for support.

Then there is the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP), another Constitution custodian with its hands constantly up in the air. Director Noordin Haji has suspended criminal proceedings against some politicians until after the August 9 elections to give them time to campaign. Ridiculous. I'd be curious to know if this moratorium would be availed to chicken thieves or more relevant suspects arrested in connection with political violence, like say, those suspected of stoning a helicopter in Uasin Gishu recently. Also in this category of the ridiculous is a decision by a magistrate to give a political leader time off her murder to concentrate on her re-election campaigns. Again, simply ridiculous.

The trend does not stop there. At the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), it got me really worried recently listening to Twalib Mbarak, the EACC CEO. He sounded to me like yet another one with his hands up in the air.

I don’t think so Mr. Mbarak. And I don’t think so Judiciary, IEBC and the ODPP. When the supposed defenders of our constitutional provisions on leadership and integrity go limb in the course of duty, it is ultimately their personal spinelessness to blame. And spineless custodians constitute the second greatest danger ever to constitutional order. You do not want to guess the first.