The Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Act No. 14 of 1965
This Amendment Act reduced the threshold for amending the Constitution from 90 percent to 65 percent in Senate and 75 percent to 65 percent in the National Assembly.
It also increased the days within which Parliament should approve a state of emergency from 7 to 21 days. Importantly, it reduced the threshold for approval of state of emergency from 65 percent to a simple majority
The Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Act No. 16 of 1966
The Amendment Act introduced the rule that a Member of Parliament would lose his seat in Parliament if he missed 8 sittings or was imprisoned for a period of over six months. This amendment was intended to deal with KANU ‘rebels’ and those who had joined KPU. The amendment also increased the President’s powers to rule by decree in North Eastern Province.
The Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) (No. 2) Act No. 17 of 1966 (Turn Coat Rule) Under this Amendment Act, a Member of Parliament would by law lose his parliamentary seat of he defected to another political party. The amendment was meant to deal with Members of Parliament who had defected from KANU to KPU.
The Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) (No. 3) Act No. 18 of 1966
This Amendment Act increased the period for National Assembly’s review of emergency orders from 2 to 8 months. It permitted greater and wider derogation powers of fundamental rights and freedoms. It also removed the provision calling for reasonable justification for such derogations. This amendment was intended to allow for detention of KPU members who had defected from KANU.
The Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Act No. 13 of 1967
This Amendment Act was intended to clear doubt over section 42A which spelt out the Turn Coat Rule. It backdated the effect of the Fifth Amendment to 1963.
The Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) (No. 2) Act No. 16 of 1968
Under this Amendment Act, independent candidates were barred from participating in elections. The amendment also removed parliamentary approval for state of emergency declaration.
The Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Act No. 5 of 1969
This amendment Act consolidated all the constitutional amendments as at February 1969 thereby resulting in a revised Constitution of Kenya in a single document which was declared to be the authentic document.
58 For details see: Samwel Alfayo Nyanchoga et al (2008) Constitutionalism and Democratisation in Kenya, 1945- 2007. Catholic University of Eastern Africa
65. The polarization of the country between the radicals and the conservatives continued to remain a threat which Kenyatta had to handle. The first attempt to deal with this situation was the development of Sessional Paper Number 10 of 1965, which was a mix of the socialist and capitalist models, rejecting both Marxism and laissez-faire capitalism, and stressing African traditions, equity and social justice. Kenyatta made it clear in his introduction to the paper that the intent was not to stimulate discussions on Kenya’s economic policy, but to end it. However, Oginga Odinga and his camp instructed Pio Gama Pinto to prepare a competing paper to mobilize for the rejection of the government sessional paper. But before Pinto could prepare the parallel paper, he was murdered on 24 February 1965 outside his home in Nairobi by people believed to have been auxiliaries loyal to Kenyatta. The killing of Pinto marked the process of political assassinations under the Kenyatta regime.
66. The year 1966, marked the turning point in Kenya’s political history and witnessed the introduction of the motion of confidence in the president by Tom Mboya without the knowledge of Oginga Odinga, who was then the leader of government business. The year also saw the holding of the KANU National Delegates Conference in Limuru, which created a new position of eight new provincial vice-presidents. These actions forced Odinga and his supporters to pursue the constitutional opposition by forming a political party, the Kenya Peoples Union (KPU). On 14 April 1966, Odinga resigned as vice-president and together with his supporters joined KPU. In his resignation statement, Odinga argued that he refused to be part of a government “ruled by underground masters serving foreign interests”, and accused the Limuru Conference of being rigged in favour of Kenyatta and his allies. The Kenyatta regime also passed the Preservation of Public Security Act in 1966, which provided the state with wide powers for detention without trial and allowed control of free movement, the imposition of curfews and press censorship. The Act was used effectively from 1966 to 1968 in dealing with those perceived to be critical of the Kenyatta regime, particularly in the jailing without trial of Odinga and KPU supporters.
67. Next was the assassination of Tom Mboya on 5 July 1969 in the current Moi Avenue.59 As with Pinto’s death, the apparent culprit was a petty crook with connections to the intelligence service who was charged with the murder on 21 July the same year. Facing a revolt from the Luo and the growing support for change among many Kenyans horrified by Mboya’s assassination, Kenyatta’s closest allies reverted to their ethnic bailiwicks, through oathing to force Kikuyu voters to return sitting members of parliament in the election.
68. KPU MP Okelo-Odongo claimed that those being oathed were stripped naked, tied with a rope around their neck and forced to swear to fight the Luo and not
to allow any other tribe to lead Kenya.60 The worst came on the 25 October 1969, when Kenyatta visited Kisumu to open the Russia-built Nyanza Provincial General Hospital. The opening of this health facility coincided with the Kisumu District sports day, with a huge number of students attending. Odinga was not invited, but he and his supporters came in force shouting Dume (Bull, the party symbol of KPU).
69. In the ensuing commotion, a full-scale riot erupted, the presidential escort and the dreaded crack paramilitary General Service Unit (GSU surrounded the president, shot their way through the threatening crowd and continued shooting 25 kilometres outside the town. When the dust settled, the ‘Kisumu Massacre’ of 1969 was complete, with many shot dead, including school pupils, by the presidential security. Virtually all the films of the incident was seized and destroyed. Odinga and his supporters were arrested and detained without trial and KPU, the party associated with Odinga was banned. A curfew was imposed in Central Nyanza and Siaya and hundreds were arrested.
70. Although KPU was banned and its leaders arrested, after 1969 Kenyatta’s legitimacy and that of his government was still being questioned by left-wing politicians. Kenyatta himself became more intolerant of dissent and the centralization of power around him encouraged sycophancy, exploitation and the creation the so-labeled ’Kiambu Mafia‘ Josiah Mwangi Kariuki was the government’s most influential critic between 1970 and 1974. ‘J.M’ Kariuki catalysed the wishes of the poor, landless and those unhappy with the direction that Kenya was taking. It was Kariuki who coined the phrase “we do not want … a Kenya of ten millionaires and ten million beggars”. He was also at the forefront of the fight against corruption and the social policies of the government. As assistant minister for tourism and wildlife, he was probably involved in revelations about poaching and ivory smuggling.61
71. Under a state orchestrated fear on 3 March 1975, Maasai herdsmen discovered JM’s tortured and mutilated corpse on the slopes of Ngong Hills near Nairobi.
His fingers had been cut off and his eyes gouged out before he was shot. The killers had burnt his face with acid to prevent identification of the body and his fingerprints were gone. JM’s death also joined the long list of unresolved political assassinations during the Kenyatta era. To respond to Kariuki’s murder and to rebuild his authority, the Kenyatta regime continued arresting and jailing those he labelled troublesome MPs such Jean Marie Seroney, Martin Shikuku, Chelagat Mutai, Peter Kibisu, Mark Mwithaga and George Anyona on dubious grounds even within the precincts of Parliament Buildings. As Kenyatta departed from the political scene with his death in Mombasa in August 1978, he left a handful of unaddressed issues including: corruption, tribalism, state orchestrated repression, political assassinations, and land distribution policies.
60 Okelo- Odongo East Africa Standard 12 August 1969.