The Public Service Governance (PSG), a non-governmental outfit, has committed itself to initiating electoral reforms that are aimed at streamlining governance and paving way for sustainable development by promoting the ‘Kenya Bila Uchaguzi Bill’ (Kenya Without Elections Bill) through a popular initiative process.
The organization believes that democratically elected leadership has, against expectations, derailed economic growth, slowed development and crippled governance in Kenya.
The organization’s president Ambassador Esther Waringa decries that the nation’s economy is always crippled by expensive electoral processes, expensive campaigns, and huge budgets that sustain political parties and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
She believes that the social fabric of the nation is severely affected to an extent of birthing Internally Displaced People (IDPs) after every five years.
While speaking in Nairobi, Waringa cited the elections from 1992 to date and illustrated how the democratization meltdown experienced in every elective process result and the progressive voter apathy there within, is true evidence that governance by democracy has failed.
She reiterated that the social and political unrest that the country has been and is still experiencing is as a result of elections, the electioneering process and elections’ aftermath since violence has been known as an election time tradition that often happens in Kenya after every five years.
“It is time, therefore, to think beyond the elective system of governance and think of a peaceful, enhanced, responsible, accountable and strategic direct leadership way of governing the nation other than through elections and elected representative,” Waringa said.
According to Waringa, the negative effects of elections outweighs the benefits including the social moral decay and tribal divisions, moral degradation and lack of integrity in governance, uncoordinated and bloated governance, lack of positive values as a nation, widening gap between the rich and the poor, and the escalating rate of poverty which leads to expensive livelihood and retarded economic growth.
“The huge expenditure on an electoral process that include the voter registration exercise, purchase of electoral materials, conducting general elections, sustaining the electoral commission, campaigns and the political parties expenditures, the numerous election petitions and the resultant by-elections budget and ultimately, the huge salaries paid to the bloated team of elected representatives is a sign that it is time to evaluate, eliminate and adopt a new way of birthing leadership away from the divisive, expensive and unreliable elections,” she said.
The PSG President asserted that corporate governance is the alternative form of governance, which through the ‘Kenya Bila Uchaguzi Bill’, PSG seeks to introduce a direct Public Service System of governance.
She said that the bill provides for replacing elections with vetting processes like the one exercised to birth the judicial officers including the president of the Judiciary.
Waringa noted that state officers representing various jurisdictions should be vetted in their respective areas. For instance, leaders to be vetted by the County Public Service Boards while the President of the Republic to be vetted by a constitutional organ called the Public Service Governance Governing Council.
“PSG is committed to making Kenya a one peaceful nation by facilitating the constitutional amendment process and civic education and setting up systems and structures in order to transit from the elective system of governance and establish the direct system,” she emphasized.
