Let's Make Kibaki And Moi Senators-For-Life

Wycliffe Muga is the editor of the Weekend Star.

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2013 - 00:00 -- BY WYCLIFFE MUGA

I cannot have been the only one who noticed – in the days leading up to his final limousine ride away from State House – that former President Mwai Kibaki’s words were very much at odds with his body language and his facial expressions.

Overtly, he was glad to have come to the end of all the stress that 50 years of politics can impose on a man who is essentially, a decent and mild-mannered kind of guy. He spoke of being glad to leave the country in safe hands. But watching him closely, you could see a man who was depressed that the long and magnificent ride that was his political career had come to an end. And that he now had to “go home”.

Ask yourself this: what do you think the former President did when he woke up this morning? Did he leap out of bed, eager to set out for the golf course to spend the day perfecting his swing? Or did he wake up somewhat deflated, to yet another day with, essentially, nothing to do but dream of his days of glory, first as MP; then as assistant minister; then as Cabinet minister; then as VP; then as leader of the opposition; and finally as President over the final 10 years of his political career?

One of the things that a career in politics will do to you, is that you will get addicted to it: as such, you can never really “retire” from politics. You will always find yourself drifting back into it, one way or another. A lifetime in the public limelight does not prepare a man for many quiet years in the shadows.

And now that we have two living ex-Presidents, both of whom clearly still yearn for the days when they were at the centre of national attention, maybe the time has come for us to consider an institution which other nations have found useful when considering what a former President should do with himself: the senator-for-life.

The idea here is that those who have played a key role in the leadership of the nation, need not face their twilight years with nothing better to do than wondering when (and if) their grandchildren will visit. After a lifetime in the arena of politics, it is only natural that they should yearn for some kind of presence at the centre of events: to mix with old friends still active in electoral politics, as well as meet and mentor younger men and women who have only just got their first taste of elective office.

Although the office of senator for life is mostly associated with South America where it is most commonly found (Venezuela, Peru, Chile), countries as diverse as Italy and Burundi also have such senators.

Plus Britain’s upper chamber, the House of Lords, is filled with peers who are not only unelected, but also serve for life. Elevation to the peerage is an old British tradition for former Prime Ministers – that is why the recently deceased former British PM, was Baroness Thatcher in her final two decades of life, while she had been simply Mrs Margaret Thatcher in her days of glory as PM.

And all that would be required to give our former Presidents this opportunity and privilege, is a constitutional amendment creating such an office retroactively.

For the former President Moi would, of course have to be included in the legislation that would create this office here in Kenya. And anyone who thinks that he is too old, should bear it in mind that of the four current senators for life in Italy, only one, Mario Monti, currently serving as PM, is below 90 years of age (he is 70). The others are Carlo Ciampi (92), Giulio Andreotti (94) and Emilio Combo (93).

And our neighbour Burundi also has a lesson to teach Kenya, in this respect. No less than four former heads of state in Burundi are now senators for life – Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, Pierre Buyoya, and Domitien Ndayizeye.

As a practical matter, the former PM, Raila Odinga would no doubt have to be included in this arrangement too. Assuming that a two-thirds parliamentary majority would have to be summoned to pass this new legislation, it clearly could not be successfully carried out without his support.

And as we will no longer have PMs in the future, having these three men join the senate as life members would not be too great a strain on the treasury.