constitution of kenya review commission (ckrc ... - ConstitutionNet

28this party, that party must have there people who can lead.……. l have a memorandum.Com Nancy Baraza: Dr Maranga, do you have anything? Please sign here and give us your memorandum. J. S MurageKagunga. l can see you have a memorandum. I will give you exactly five minutes please come over.John Stanley Murage Kagunga: My names are John Stanley Murage Kagunga from A.C.K Christ Church Kariru, which isa congregation part of the Kariru parish, Kariru deaconry, and Kathangu deaconry and of course the diocese of Kirinyaga. Ourcongregation felt that the preamble in the Constitution is a very important section, and the current one does not have it. So in thenew one we should have a preamble. In the preamble, another missing factor in the current Constitution.The people of Kenya who make the contract with the government are not defined and therefore we should have geographicallimits of our country put down in black and white. People’s ethnicity is very very important for identity. It should be alsoaccepted by the Constitution as the basis of definition of our people. So, we have people in the country. The variety of culturalbackgrounds again should not be an obstacle. In fact it should be able to enrich our national pride as we have in the tourists.Development of music and dances should be encouraged in schools but not really made part of the exploitative practices amongour semi-illiterate communities. Of course, by cultural practices, we know that there are some, which can be harmful like theFemale Genital Mutilation, the wife battering e.t.c and wife inheritance. These since they are formed by custom they cannot beobliterated by punitive law. People need to be educated to discard them. Directive principles of state policy: We felt thatdefinitely people of Kenya should be free to express themselves without intimidation. The application of law should be fair inthe courts so that people are not discriminated on the basis of social status, economic status, academic and politicalconsiderations.We have duplicated Acts of Parliament especially those concerning land and those need to be streamlined so that we knowwhat is happening with land which is a very important resource in the country. We also know that Kenyans have got values.They value life, they value property. But the way demagogy has been practiced in politics has made people lose hope andsubsequently we look like we don’t have values. This word should be spelt out in a good Constitution. Of course I know amaddressing experts. Members of the Review Commission are experts and once they hear my basic views no matter howprimitive, they will be able to give them shape in a new Constitution.The question of Constitutional Supremacy is definitely not to be doubted. But then if the people are not defined and the otherparty in other words, the government or the state who is reaching the agreement with the people are not devised then thecontract will not be easy to come to term. Any major Constitutional amendments should not be left to Parliament. If peoplemake a contract say with the State, then the amendment of Constitution should be after a referendum so that people will givetheir ideas. Those referendums should be referred to a Parliamentary committee that possibly should be able to give them the