There’s a reason why, after studying economics, I saw the wisdom of adding law to my academic arsenal: to avoid the kind of self-inflicted embarrassment we are now witnessing from Mwalimu Daktari Ndii.
Apparently, years of modeling imaginary markets have produced the illusion that law, like economics, is a playground of flexible assumptions. It is not.
When the Constitution of Kenya 2010 says the general election must be held “in the fifth year” after the previous election, it speaks with the precision of legal drafting — not the approximation of economic forecasting. It is “the fifth year after” the event, not “every fifth year” like some periodic economic cycle.
In law, time is not a philosophical abstraction. It is strictly codified. You do not “draw a number line” and count arbitrary distances between points like you’re graphing demand curves.
You count real anniversaries:
•9 August 2022: Election Day.
•9 August 2023: End of the first year.
•9 August 2024: End of the 2nd Year
•9 August 2025: End of the third year.
•9 August 2026: End of the fourth year, enter fifth year.
Thus, the fifth year runs from August 2026 to August 2027, and the election must be held during this fifth year (The general election must fall within that window)— August 2026, maintaining constitutional tradition and democratic predictability.
Economists, with our love of theoretical models, may imagine a “year” is merely an “interval” between floating points on a conceptual number line.
That might suffice when predicting inflation rates — but it collapses completely when applied to constitutional timelines that govern sovereign authority.
The law does not trade in hypothetical efficiencies. It trades in certainty, order, and continuity.
Confusing constitutional term limits with economic modeling is like confusing the law of contract with the invisible hand of the market: amusing in an undergraduate seminar, blunder in real governance.
To argue otherwise is to suggest that a five-year presidential term is just a “flexible thought,” modifiable by how creatively one can stretch or shrink “intervals.” This is not only wrong — it borders on constitutional vandalism.
So, with all due respect to the discipline of economics, Mwalimu @DavidNdii Stick to inflation targets and GDP projections. Leave the Constitution to
those who actually read it — and understand it.
@otienowill@MigaiAkech
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