The NASA leader said he will be announcing the date and programme of the Assembly’s inaugural convention in the coming days noting that the Assembly will continue to exist until a legitimate presidency is restored/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya Oct 31 – National Super Alliance Leader Raila Odinga on Tuesday called for the formation of a People’s Assembly to run the country after as he rejected the result of last week’s fresh presidential election.
In his first public engagement since the IEBC announced the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta, Odinga said the Assembly will restore democracy, constitutionalism and the rule of law.
“Governments are not above Constitutions. And Constitutions are not above the people. The people retain ownership of sovereign power. This is the reason why all progressive Constitutions, the people reserve the right to exercise their sovereignty directly. The fate of all governments that usurp and abuse power is to fall.”
“We have obligated ourselves to respect, obey and defend our Constitution. We are now compelled by this obligation to chart our way back to democracy, constitutionalism and the rule law,” he told a news briefing at the Okoa Kenya Headquarters.
He said the People’s Assembly will be a broad based forum consisting of elected leaders and the leadership of other sectors of society in particular workers, civil society, religious leaders, women, youth and economic interest groups.
The NASA leader said he will be announcing the date and programme of the Assembly’s inaugural convention in the coming days noting that the Assembly will continue to exist until a legitimate presidency is restored.
He further announced that he will constitute a taskforce to look into the systemic governance weaknesses that have precipitated the unfolding political crisis.
“NASA is forming a Task Force to look into the systemic continuing failure of electoral bodies, and the electoral system in general, performance of national security organs and the abuse thereof by the Executive, the political architecture and the structure of the Executive and Parliament in particular,” he stated.
The Task-Force whose members he did not name will also look into the protection and safeguarding devolution, the exclusion and discrimination in the allocation or distribution of public resources and the continued inability of the State, and our society in general, to deal with the root causes of political strife in particular poverty, unemployment, extreme inequality, economic marginalization and historical grievances
Odinga anticipates that the Task Force recommendations will include constitutional amendments that will be presented to the People’s Assembly for adoption, and thereafter to the County Assemblies for ratification.
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