Constitutional formation in divided polity not for amateurs

Two weeks ago I said that for us to grow into a “normal” political society we should consider putting in place three transitional measures. Based on the usual premise that the president should have the right to hire and fire his cabinet, parliamentary parties should be represented in that cabinet in proportion to their representation in the national assembly, but the president must always have a workable majority in the cabinet, even where there is a hung parliament. And if an issue in the national assembly is declared to be of “communal interest” by an agreed upon percentage (40%) of the assembly, that issue should only be passed with the special majority. Following upon this, last week I proposed a political environment which I believe could help us to grow into a normal political society.

In competitive electoral politics reality takes second place to belief and by “normal” politics I mean a political process in which the various ethnic groups and their leadership believe and act as though ethnic alliances are no longer the main determinants of the nature and outcomes of the government.

There are those who believe that the current situation in which the Alliance For Change holds the balance in the national assembly already points in the direction of consensual governance and may well also