[kictanet] Off topic: COFEK

[bitange at jambo.co.ke]

Brian,
There are two ways of generating Bills to Parliament.  The first one is
through the line Ministry taking the Bill through consultations with
stakehoders then finally it becomes an Act of Parliament.  The line
Ministry will make sure that the provisions of the Act are implemented. 
The other method of getting the Bills through Parliament is through a
sponsorship by an interest group through some MP.  Such Bills go through
Parliament but fail to get a home (Ministry) that bears the
responsibility.  In most cases such bills never become effective.  One
example is the Njoki Ndungu's Children's Act.  A great piece of
legislation but has failed to get a real home.

Nobody knows why some Acts of Parliment fail to be enforced.  Civil
Society that often sponsors Bills through MPs must change tact and start
pushing them through the line Ministry. This is what we did with the
Freedom of Information and Data Protection Bills that we worked with Civil
Society to push them. With the new constitution, it is imperative that we
closely work with the civil society for the sake of our country.  Lone
ranger tactics often fail and we all end up missing the point.


Ndemo.

> I'm sorry but I must bring this up here as there was a recent discussion
> involving COFEK.
>
> Today I saw COFEK on social media calling consumers to join them in a
> protest outside Govt printerr office. I followed the link indicated in
> their post to find out what the fuss was about and found this:
> *
>
> The Consumers Federation of Kenya (Cofek) is concerned at the poor
> performance by the office of the Government Printer headed by Mr Andrew
> Rukaria (pictured).
>
> Since assent of the Consumer Protection Act on December 13, 2012 the
> Government Printer's office has been giving endless excuses from backlog
> to
> lack of films and other materials. Meanwhile the Act remains unpublished
> and it cannot be operationalized as a result.
>
> Our numerous calls and letters have only yielded in unfulfilled and
> indefinite pledges of printing the same. Mr Rukaria has also taken to
> avoiding our calls.
>
> From the foregoing, we hereby demand for his voluntary resignation within
> seven days. Failure to do so, Cofek will simultaneously seek for judicial
> intervention.
>
> Cofek, will after this ultimatum, mobilize consumers to physically eject
> him from his office for his consistently poor and unacceptable
> performance.
> *What I don't understand is:
>
>    1. Since when was it that an Act cannot be operationalized simply
>    because it hasn't been printed by Govt printers?
>    2. Isn't there an electronic version of this Act that can be
>    used/referred to in case of legal issues/action?
>    3. Is there anything stopping COFEK from printing their own copies of
>    the Act? (If they need it so badly)
>
> Please enlighten me?
> Mblayo
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