Kenyan church leaders have called upon the government to hold a national referendum on before introducing a proposed constitution, crafted in the wake of December’s post-election violence.In a speech to his diocesan synod on Aug 30, the Bishop of Maseno West, the Rt Rev Joseph Wasonga said it was the people’s right to have a say in the creation of a new government.
“There must be mechanisms to ensure the draft constitution has the blessings of a majority of Kenyans," he said according to local press accounts.
Following weeks of communal violence that left thousands dead and divided the country along ethnic lines --- pitting the dominant Kikuyu tribe of central Kenya against the Luo of Western Kenya, the government and opposition leaders agreed to form a coalition government in February, and to craft a new constitution that would strengthen the powers of the legislature.
"The Coalition Government must prioritise the exercise to deal with bad governance," Bishop Wasonga said.
Kenya has been ruled be a series of “big men” since independence. Jomo Kenyatta became the nation’s first president in 1963 and governed through the Kenya African National Union (KANU) until 1978, when he was succeeded by Daniel Arap Moi.
Moi was returned to power following multi-party elections in 1992 and 1997 that were marked by ethnic violence and charges of voting irregularities. Government corruption, stagnant economic growth and worsening social conditions led to KANU’s defeat in 2002 and Kibaki was elected president.
His National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) composed of his National Alliance Party of Kenya (NAK) and Raila Odinga's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) took office, ending one-party rule. Among his campaign promises, Kibaki pledged to put forward a new constitution to replace the one crafted at independence.
Kenya’s British era constitution created a strong executive, where the president appointed the vice president, cabinet ministers, judges and local administrators.
While centralized rule allowed the government to keep Kenya together in the face of the competing claims of the country’s 42 ethnic groups, it also fostered corruption and favoritism as all power flowed from the president.
The proposed 2004 constitution sought to distribute power between the president and a prime minister. In return for backing Kibaki and the Kikuyu based NAK party, Odinga and the Luo based LDP party agreed to support the constitution, in return for Odinga’s appointment as prime minister.
The Kikuyu represent 22 per cent of the country’s population and the Luo 15 per cent.
However, in 2004 voters rejected the proposed constitution with 3.5 million people voting against the document and 2.5 million for it in a turnout of 54 percent of registered voters---with non-Kikuyu’s and Luo’s voting against the constitution that would have frozen their tribes out of government.
The constitutional stalemate lay behind the post-election violence in December and prompted government pledges for a new constitution in February.
The NARC government has rejected calls for a constitutional referendum, but church leaders have argued the people should have the right to set the terms of government.
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(Source: RI)