MOMBASA, Kenya, Apr 26 \u2013 Democratic Party leader Justin Muturi has strongly opposed the proposed Kenya\u2013France Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA), raising concerns over sovereignty, legality and lack of public participation.<\/p>\n
n a statement issued from Tononoka in Mombasa, Muturi said the agreement, as currently framed, poses serious constitutional and national security risks that must not be ignored.<\/p>\n
He faulted the government for failing to conduct adequate public participation, arguing that any deal involving the presence of foreign military personnel on Kenyan soil requires prior and meaningful consultation with affected communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Constitution is clear\u2014public participation is not optional,\u201d he said, warning that coastal communities, in particular, would bear the direct impact of such an agreement.<\/p>\n
Muturi also expressed concern over reported provisions that could grant foreign troops immunity from Kenyan law, describing it as a threat to the country\u2019s sovereignty and rule of law.<\/p>\n
\u201cGranting legal protections that shield foreign personnel from the jurisdiction of Kenyan courts is unacceptable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He further warned against rushing the agreement through without proper parliamentary scrutiny, saying any attempt to fast-track the process would be unconstitutional.<\/p>\n
\u201cParliament exists to safeguard the interests of Kenyans, not to rubber-stamp opaque executive decisions,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
While acknowledging the importance of international security cooperation, Muturi stressed that such agreements must not compromise constitutional order, national dignity or citizens\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n
He called for the immediate suspension of the agreement and its ratification process until full disclosure of its terms is made public, comprehensive public participation is conducted, and Parliament is given sufficient time to review and approve it.<\/p>\n
Muturi also urged the government to remove any provisions that are inconsistent with the Constitution.<\/p>\n
The proposed defence pact has yet to be formally tabled before Parliament, but debate around it is expected to intensify as scrutiny over foreign military arrangements in the region grows.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MOMBASA, Kenya, Apr 26 \u2013 Democratic Party leader Justin Muturi has strongly opposed the proposed Kenya\u2013France Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA), raising concerns over sovereignty, legality and lack of public participation. n a statement issued from Tononoka in Mombasa, Muturi said the agreement, as currently framed, poses serious constitutional and national security risks that must not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138969\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}