According Article 136 (2a) of the Kenyan Constitution, “An election of the President shall be held on the same day as a general election of Members of Parliament, being the second Tuesday in August, in every fifth year”.
Then what is going to happen to Kenya’s case? Political analyst Mutahi Ngunyi through his weekly show, the fifth estate, argues that under this provision, if parliament gets dissolved for failing to enact the Gender Bill law, then that may equally mark the end of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s term as he is only eligible to contest for two terms.
Alternatively, Mutahi expresses that the President may find a way to extend his term from 5 years to 7 years if a new parliament is elected in 2019.
Given that both elections are to be held on the same day, the tenure of a new parliament is meant to run for 5 years.
Mutahi hence opines that if the 13th parliament is elected into office in 2019, its term would run up to 2024 giving the President an extra two years before a General Election is held.
The decision to either reduce or extend the President’s term may depend on the interpretation by the Supreme Court of Kenya.
The political analyst, however, remarked that the thought of Chief Justice David Maraga favouring the former over the latter is not far-fetched.
“Uhuru survived the Maraga coup of October 2017. The question however is this: Will Uhuru revisit Maraga or will Maraga revisit Uhuru?” Mutahi poses.
But what did lawyer Miguna Miguna have to say? According to Miguna Miguna, the building bridges task force is titled to ensuring that President Uhuru’s tenure is extended. Miguna argues that Kenyans are not “zombified ” to an exted of willing to extend the reign of Uhuru.
Through a post on his official twitter account, Miguna said, “The Mythical Bridges To Nowhere believe, wrongly, that Kenyans are so zombified that they are willing to EXTEND Tyrant @UKenyatta‘s Reign of Terror by 7 more years, create empty sinecures for Traitors like @RailaOdinga and place the power of choosing their leaders on MPigs.”
The Mythical Bridges To Nowhere believe, wrongly, that Kenyans are so zombified that they are willing to EXTEND Tyrant @UKenyatta‘s Reign of Terror by 7 more years, create empty sinecures for Traitors like @RailaOdinga and place the power of choosing their leaders on MPigs.
— Dr. Miguna Miguna (@MigunaMiguna) December 2, 2018
Do you think there are plans of using the parliament’s dissolution in extending President Kenyatta’s tenure by two more years?