Kenya – About to abandon semi-presidentialism

The constitution-making process in Kenya has moved one step closer to its conclusion. At the end of last week, the Kenyan parliament approved the draft constitution that had been presented to it at the end of January. As reported in a previous post, this constitution proposed a straightforward presidential regime.

The key element to note about the parliamentary debate is that absolutely no amendments were passed to the draft constitution that was being debated. This is because a two-thirds majority was required for amendments, though the bill only had to be adopted by a simple majority. So, the proposed presidential regime remains intact.

The text of the draft constitution is available here. There is also a very instructive document, available here, which shows, in track changes, the differences between the draft constitution that was recommended by the Committee of Experts (a semi-presidential constitution), and the constitution that was subsequently agreed by the Parliamentary Select Committee. If I had been on the Committee of Experts, I might have finished by wondering why I had ever bothered to agree to be part of the process, so extensive were the changes made (albeit quite legitimately) by the Parliamentary Select Committee.

The final stage of the process is a referendum. There is talk that the vote will be held on 2 July. At that point, assuming the constitution is passed and there is no reason to think that it will not be, Kenya’s brief flirtation with semi-presidentalism will have ended.

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