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http://www.timesnews.co.ke/12sep05/editorials/comm2.html
Why the No vote may carry the day
Kenyans living abroad say the Wako
Draft does not pass as Kenya’s future constitution
IT is curtains drawn as November 21 has been
set by the Electoral commission of
For atleast two decades, the people of
But the idea that
Kenyans vote “Yes or No” to the draft constitution without presenting both the Bomas and the Wako drafts to a rigorous civic education
exercise, grossly contradicts the reasons why the people voted out the
undemocratic dictatorship of former President Daniel arap
Moi in December 2002, when then as president, he
refused provide a leeway to an open constitution rewriting process.
This, it will be
recalled, led many people to prison, some were forced
into exile as scores of others lost their lives not to mention those who were
maimed in the much publicised reforms of the late
1980s and through the 1990s.
By fidgeting with the Constitutional writing process, does Kibaki and his allies really understand the history and issues behind the real struggle for a new Constitution in Kenya?
After more than Sh4
billion was spent by the government to come up with the Bomas
draft Constitution which represented the wishes of Kenyans, the document was
referred to Parliament, not to improve it but to water it down in favour of the wishes of a few.
Powerful
presidency
During 24 years of Moi’s rullership, some of the
most notable maladies of the KANU Constitution were to be found in sections
that accorded the President enormous powers.
And the draft new constitution is no any better as the President is still as powerful as ever, an aspect that places his office effectively above the law of the land.
With only a few years in office, Kibaki wants the same powers as his predecessor. The document Kibaki has presented to the referendum cannot be ratified by any right thinking people anywhere , and Kenyans are no exception. In the new arrangement, the presidency has been vested with enormous powers to hire and fire vital officers of the State, perhaps even worse than it were before.
The powers of the
Prime Minister proposed in the Bomas draft for
instance have also been reduced to an extent that if enacted, the Prime
Minister becomes an effective puppet or errand boy of the President.
As Kenyans resident in Scandinavia, we have already studied the mutilated Kenyan Constitution in detail and our position is that Kenyans should reject it by voting “No”.
As long as it exists,
the Bomas Draft Constitution, written by Kenyans
themselves should have been presented to the public for scrutiny, then subject
it to a national referendum before Arttoney General
Amos Wako and Parliamentary select committee on constitution chairman Simeon Nyachae go ahead to make the necessary adjustments.
Some of the Political
activists who have been mobilized to campaign for a “Yes” vote are well known
for both their carpet-crossing and turn-coating at the slightest invitation to
a “retreat” where they are routinely bribed to vote yes to even the most
obscene bills that have come before Parliament.
These political elite
in
The new Constitution
should have contained clauses that make those who committed economic crimes
like the goldenberg and the Anglo-leasing scandals to
be charged with treason.
Kibaki is leading a regime of tainted land grabbers
who have been responding to past crimes by setting up bogus money guzzling
Commissions that end up protecting the rich.
The president, who is now leading the “Yes” vote campaign, has himself sold the country to imperialism. Foreign soldiers are walking away with crime while grand children of former colonial masters continue oppressing the natives. Recently Lord Delamere’s grand child walked away with a crime he committed in full glair of witnesses when he shot to death a warder on his farm.
What is more? We still remember how Kibaki tried to convert Kenya back into a single party state after he suggesting that Narc affiliate parties be dissolved. He only failed when Kenyans rose strongly and told him to dissolve his own DP Party.
That was however after he could not honour a series of pre-elections pledges, including the defunct Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), creation of 500,000 jobs per year and a new constitution within 100 days of coming to power.
The President now
wants to experiment with his half-baked Constitution and this, we believe is
going to fail again! Minority tribes like the Masaais
continue to be marginalised while other Kenyans
continue to be collectively expelled from their land without alternatives. National
resources like Tiomin have been handed over to
foreigners to exploit while the national economy is firmly in the hands of
imperialist institutions.
Kibaki’s campaign for a “Yes” vote is against a
backdrop of landlessness that he has failed to address since he took over
power. He is now telling Kenyans to accept a Constitution that will lease land
to foreigners for 99 years. This is the same arrangement that has been
protecting settler land grabbers in
From our vantage
point, we view the Kibaki Constitution as a document
weaved to appease donors, but the resulting effect will be to further
impoverish Kenyans. Through the Privatization programme,
vital government investments are being sold to multinational companies whose
agenda is dubious.
Looked at closely, the
draft constitution is crafted to protect the rich-property-owners who form less
than 10 per cent of the Kenyan population. It is not intended to transform the
lives of millions of Kenyans languishing in poverty.
Since Kibaki took power, human rights violations, torture in police cells, violent attacks on demonstrators,
attacks on striking workers and numerous other undemocratic practices that were
seen during the Moi dictatorship have returned to the
local political scene.
Church should act
And The Draft
Constitution which Kenyans are being asked to accept is designed to maintain
the status quo, and to oppress the workers and denying millions of youth from
playing a constructive role in the running of society.
The Draft Constitution
is silent on the question of a minimum living wage for workers who continue to
be underpaid. This Constitution must be opposed by a strong “NO” so that
President Kibaki can go into quiet retirement.
As Kenyans in
By sitting on the
fence at this point, the Church is eroding its well documented history of
struggle when Moi was dictating on every aspect of
society affairs.
This situation will
only strengthen the ‘Yes’ campaign and it is for this reason that we urge the
faithful in
This will help the
nation! The government has indicated that it will use “every means available”
to get it’s way in the November referendum. We are
confident that President Kibaki and the ‘banana team’
will lose this game. We urge all Kenyans to take to the streets in case the
government employs dirty tactics and rigs the vote in his favour.
Like Adolf Hitler in
We, Kenyans living abroad expected a democratic Constitution that would alleviate poverty. Yet the draft Constitution already sends out worrying signals as it looks more or less like a project to protect the interest of the rich.
We therefore believe that there is nowhere in the world where a democratic Constitution can be written by traitors, reactionaries, opportunists, wealth grabbers, political opportunists and. Let it not happen in Kenya!
Former president Moi’s policies were defeated through mass mobilization and
there is no reason why Kibaki should not have a taste
of the same medicine.
By:
Martin
Ngatia: Kenya Peoples Democratic Movement (KEPEDEMO Mapinduzi)
Okoth Osewe: Kenya Socialist Democratic Alliance (KSDA)
Desmond Nyamu: Kenya Social Forum in Norway (KSF - Norway)
Betty Shangazi: Muungano Ya Akina Mama Scandinavia
Omariba Kadikiye: Organization of Kenyans in Denmark (OKD)
Christopher Omondi: Association of Kenyan Students in Finland (AKSIF)
Published by Kenya Socialist Democratic
Alliance (KSDA)
email: harakatips@hotmail.com