PRESIDENT KIBAKI DECLARES SUPPORT FOR KENYA’S DRAFT CONSTITUTION

By Kendagor Obadiah & Carol Gakii

NAIROBI, March 12 (NNN-KBC) — President Mwai Kibaki has declared his support for the draft constitution tabled in Parliament by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Constitution Review.

Stressing that this is no time for political gimmicks but the time to give Kenyans a new Constitution, he says the development of the country will move faster for the good of all once the new Constitution is in place.

“Any few outstanding issues which have been raised by different sectors can be considered through consultations in the National Assembly,” President Kibaki said Thursday at the Eldoret showground where he officially opened this year’s Eldoret National Show.

He lauded the PSC for making possible the Naivasha consensus which finally resolved key contentious issues that had stood in the way of the new Constitution, referring to the agreement reached a recent retreat in Naivasha in Rift Valley province attended by members of the PSC.

President Kibaki urged Kenyans to support the new Constitution for the future good of the country. “Let us all prepare to vote in the referendum to give our country a constitution that will best serve present and future generations,” he said.

He exhorted Kenyans to work together to create a stable, just and prosperous nation that they can take pride to call their home. “Let us cherish and guard it and bequeath future generations one strong nation of prosperous and united people,” the President said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Raila Odinga has dismissed claims by a section of legislators that the executive is to blame for a second Naivasha retreat to discuss and build consensus on the draft Constitution.

Speaking in Parliament Thursday, Raila accused MPs of hypocrisy, saying they themselves shot down the adjournment motion on Wednesday, aborting the planned retreat.

Earlier, the Party of National Unity (PNU) of President Kibaki had accused Odinga of plotting the defeat of a motion of adjournment. The PNU’sTigania East MP, Peter Munya, claimed tha the prime minister used MPs from his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) to shoot down the motion for fear of PNU using the retreat to push for amendments to certain clauses in the draft Constitution.

He said PNU will still push for a retreat next week as the party is uncomfortable with a powerful Senate which has powers to impeach the president as provided for in the current draft. However, the ODM wants the proposed Constitution adopted in its current form.

Meanwhile experts say the planned Naivasha retreat was ill-informed and would have created more rifts among the political class.

Political analyst James Simekha says that the PSC should change tact on consensus building saying that the retreat would have been viewed as an attempt to mutilate the work of the Committee of Experts (COE) on Constitutional review which drew up the draft based on feedback received from a wide cross section of Kenyan society.

Speaking to KBC by telephone, Simekha also said the political class must rise to the occasion and support the proposed Constitution and Kenyans would be keenly watching the debate in Parliament.

On Wednesday evening, MPs voted against the three-day retreat during which they were to be taken through the draft Constitution before commencement of debate next week.
The adjournment motion was defeated after 25-23. — NNN-KBC

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