Underqualified politicians still stalling degree legislation

Legislation demanding a university degree from political leaders might see close to 50% of Kenya’s members of county assemblies (MCAs) and members of parliament (MPs) lose their seats in the upcoming 2022 general elections.

Once enacted, section 22 of the 2012 Elections Act will require any current and future persons aspiring for political seats to be holders of a university degree before being cleared by the electoral commission to contest an election.

“A person may be nominated as a candidate for an election under this act only if that person is qualified to be elected to that office under the constitution and this act, and holds, in the case of a member of parliament, a degree from a university recognised in Kenya or, in the case of a member of the county assembly, a degree from a university recognised in Kenya,” section 22 of the act reads.

Currently, the president and his deputy as well as governors and their deputies are the only leaders expected to have degrees, according to the Elections Act.

Academic requirements lowered

The degree requirement for legislators was tabled in parliament in 2011 and set to be implemented during the 2013 general elections. However, since the majority of MPs then did not have the qualifications, they managed to lobby for a five-year suspension of the passing of the bill. Now, almost 10 years later, many are yet to qualify.

As would be expected, most of the leaders who are affected by the bill sought to prevent it from being implemented, thus forcing delays and postponements.

In 2013, the lawmakers voted to have the academic qualifications lowered for persons seeking to vie for parliamentary and county assembly seats, and university degrees were to be excluded from the qualification criteria.

Since then, MCAs, seen as the biggest ‘culprits’ in the scheme, have faced constant reproach for having uneducated representatives who cannot formulate meaningful legislation for their counties.

“The problem with having uncouth people as leaders is that they are difficult to reason with,” said Willis Wanyama, a local primary school teacher.

“We have seen situations where the MCAs have opted for blackmail rather than diplomacy to get what they want from their county executives,” Wanyama told University World News.

Before the 2017 general elections, the national assembly opted to push forward the enactment of the law in the hope that it would give the affected leaders enough time to go back to school and attain the required degrees before 2022.

“Notwithstanding subsection (1), this section shall come into force and shall apply to qualifications for candidates in the general election to be held after the 2017 general election,” according to the section that allowed the postponement.

Many politicians yet to comply

However, despite the numerous delays that have kept this move at bay, a huge number of the lawmakers still lack the set qualifications and have, instead, opted to challenge the proposed legislation and have it removed.

The COVID-19 pandemic also seems to have made matters worse for those who were still studying, having disrupted the academic calendar and thus shutting down any window of opportunity that may have been left to acquire the coveted degrees.

MCAs, led by the County Assemblies Forum chairman, Ndegwa Wahome, said they will move to court to challenge the bill, claiming it was unconstitutional and had not been subjected to public scrutiny before being enacted.

“This law goes against the people’s sovereign right to elect leaders of their choice,” Wahome told the Nation.

“Our position is that it should be removed completely, and the sovereignty of electing people’s representatives be left to the people of Kenya. If the graduates are better leaders, they should be able to beat those who have not gone to school when they meet at the ballot,” Wahome said.

Parliament’s website revealed that more than 200 MPs (out of 416) had degrees, including PhDs, and thus met the legal requirements. The website also showed that 50 MPs had not posted their CVs, while another 50 claimed to be studying for their degrees.

In the senate, four senators appeared not to have degrees while another six had not put their CVs on the website.

Parliament’s website is public so that Kenyans are informed about what happens in parliament and can access information about the people they elected.

MPs do not contribute

According to the parliament broadcast unit and Mzalendo.com, an online platform that keeps tabs on parliamentary proceedings, a huge number of MPs never contribute to the proceedings at the national assembly and often skip crucial meetings required in lawmaking.

They only seemed to speak when they were supporting one of their colleagues, but never initiated any discussion.

“The national and county assemblies need to be strengthened. They are institutions where a number of things take place: key presentations and legislation which require certain standards from the members,” Issa Garor, an MCA, said.

Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jnr, who helped craft the proposed legislation, said that, if it is enacted, close to 50% of the current political leaders would not be eligible to run in the 2022 general elections.

“I was in the committee that proposed the law in 2016. There are arguments from both sides – one says that you can’t put the degree requirement on governors alone when people who are overseeing them don’t have an education,” he said.

“The other says that you can’t restrict leadership to those who have degrees,” Mutula told The Standard.

Ample time to qualify

Kilonzo vowed to push for implementation of the legislation despite the opposition.

Nominated MP Godfrey Osotsi agreed that everyone has had enough time to get their degrees and the legislation had to be implemented.

“This time around, the law should be implemented because the aspirants were given adequate time to acquire degrees. Secondly, it is no longer tenable to have legislators with low education [qualifications] if we want to improve the quality of debates and legislation,” Osotsi told The Standard.

“In fact, we need to remove discriminatory aspects in law. Why do we require the president and governors to have degrees while those who oversee them have none?” Osotsi asked.