Date Posted: 12/15/2012 12:57:17 PM
Posted By: Macawear88 Membership Level: Silver Total Points: 163
Mombasa Republican Council, otherwise known as MRC, have promised and vowed not to participate in the general coming elections. In their view, they believe that this is the best way of showing how serious they are. A critical look gives the contrary opinion. Failure to register as voters shall definitely bar them from participating on any elections. This may appear as a trivial issue but a critical look shows that without voting power, the MRC group shall remain doomed.The group has been trying to solve their issues through legal procedure. This is laudable as it shows that they understand legitimacy and authority of the courts. Whoever seeks any court''s intervention must always be ready to abide by what the court decides. They should be ready to accept the verdict whether it favours them or goes against their wishes. This means that the court''s ruling should be a final settlement of the issue. In order to fully understand this, we need to know how far the court can go in making the decision.The court has no power to declare the Coast province a sovereign state. It has no powers to declare Coast province as capable of seceeding from Kenya. It is in no position to declare any agreement as invalid. Above all, it is supposed to consider this case and ensure that public interest is observed. Public interest includes ensuring the interests of the Kenyan people are upheld and the Constitution is not violated. So after dwelling on what the court cannot do lets analyze what the court can do. What powers does the court have?The court''s jurisdiction is interpreting the law. Giving advisory opinion on the legal status and validity of any agreement. Imperative to note is that only the people of Kenya have the power to decide on secession. The best the courts can do is declare that the Coastal people to decide whether they want to secede or not. The problem will be defining who a Coastal person is? Prior to South Sudan being allowed to be a nation, a referendum had to be held. The problem for MRC, should the court declare a referendum, is the fact that they would not be able to actively participate in the referendum. Why? They are nott registered voters. As a result, the long legal battle will end up in a trash. For the Coastal people, registration as a voter is more than just for casting a vote. Let people realize.
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