There is a ghost that is disturbing Kenyan MPs. The ghost belongs to Montesquieu — a Frenchman, who lived in the 1700s.
In 1748, he wrote a treatise titled "The Spirit of the Laws", introducing the theory of separation of powers. He proposed political authority be divided into the Legislative, Judiciary and Executive to prevent tyranny by ensuring no single entity accumulated excessive and unchecked powers. MPs would make laws, the Judiciary would interpret them and the Executive would enforce laws. The doctrine of checks and balances was also introduced.
Montesquieu lived during the Age of Enlightenment in Europe in the late 17th and 19th centuries. This period entailed Intellectuals gaining knowledge through rationality and empirical evidence. Rene Descartes wrote "Discourse of the Method" in 1637 where he championed disbelieving everything unless there was a well-founded reason for accepting it. His famous dictum was "Corgito, ergo sum," meaning " I think, therefore I am". Connected with this revolution in social sciences, was the revolution in natural sciences that birthed industrialisation.
Montesquieu’s ideas were radical at that age as they departed from French wisdom of dividing government into three estates: the clergy, the aristocracy and the commons representing ordinary people. His works influenced the founders of American society and the latter-day revolutionaries of France who went on to overthrow the monarchy.
Judges who declared the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NGCDF) as unconstitutional always cited Montesquieu. Idealistically, they are right. MPs’ main role should be to oversight the all too powerful Executive. It might be hard to achieve this if MPs simultaneously undertake project implementation.
However, this ignores the practical reality in Kenya — an under developed country where the optimum moral is the provision of public goods such as schools. It explains why voters evaluate MPs, not on the basis of oversight, but of development with questions such as, "Did you build a school or did you educate our children?" Rarely do they ask if an MP ably oversighted the Executive. In our ethnic contexts, some parliamentary oversight is politically costly.
In 2004, Maoka Maore uncovered the Anglo leasing scandal that alleged the award of government contracts to fictitious companies. When he went for re-election in 2007, the Meru public asked him why he was disturbing Mwai Kibaki with tough questions. He lost. Elias Mbau was Maragwa MP and chair of a key oversight committee in Parliament between 2007 and 2013. Uhuru Kenyatta then was a Deputy Prime and Finance Minister. Mbau’s committee, in 2009, discovered a Sh9.2b puzzle in the budget, which Uhuru blamed on a “typing” error. When they sought re-election, Mbau faced backlash for asking "irritating questions to Uhuru ".
But in building schools and using bursaries to educate the children, there is usually no subjectivity. Without NGCDF, MPs would be compelled to revert to Harambees to gain political favour. But there have been complaints about such fundraisers as conduits for ill-gotten funds.
One notes the political cogency of NGCDF by studying the politics of one former MP for Roysambu. The said MP never attended any social events such as fundraisers or political rallies. Whenever I found myself in Parliament on a Saturday, I would find him in the deserted lounge. He never really campaigned but often dispatched his car mounted with loudspeakers to sing his songs.
Everyone thought he would lose but he surprisingly won each time. Why? Bursaries. In the last election, he lost with a small margin despite being in the wrong party. There is a suggestion to devolve these funds. However, the national government retains some functions. How else can the funds reach the grassroots?
Others want the administration of these funds to be given to non-political officers of the national government. This would be a total failure if Daniel Moi's Focus on Rural Development Fund is anything to go by. Elected leaders with all their failings, have an incentive to do good to the public that unelected officials solely lack: fear of electoral loss.
What about the Montesquieu puzzle of oversight? This is a genuine concern but it can be fixed through legislation. This can include the establishment of independent audits in the same way the Parliamentary Service Commission is audited. MPs can also domicile the fund away from a stand-alone national board towards the constituency level like the Kenya Rural Roads Authority mechanism.
NGCDF also creates healthy competition for economic showcasing amongst MPs. Innovations in certain constituencies percolate nationwide. For example, there is a push by constituencies to offer free or subsidised lunch to students, an idea that birthed in Dagoretti South constituency NGCDF. Even counties copy good ideas from constituencies.
The fund’s grassroots reach has remedied agitation of regional marginalisation. Almost every Kenyan village has a mark of development as a result of NGCDF. Thus, even as courts resurrect Montesquieu’s ghost, it helps to appreciate Kenya’s practical requirements, including schools and bursaries, best implemented by elected leaders.
