Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Nairobi (Fides Service)- “A too hastily prepared referendum and the presentation of a controversial constitutional project containing certainly positive elements together with other questionable ones were the factors which led Kenyans to reject the new draft Constitution”. This is the opinion of Italian Consolata missionary Fr. Luigi Anatoloni who works with CISA new agency in Nairobi.
During the referendum on 21 November the draft Constitution was rejected by 57% of the voters (see Fides 21 November 2005). “The voters had neither the time nor the opportunity to evaluate the new constitution of which some parts caused perplexity in public opinion. The local Catholic Church and other religious confessions voiced reserve on certain points of the document such as the one concerning abortion, or the one on confessional courts” the missionary said.
“Probably if only a few paragraphs of the document had been voted for example the introduction, the response of the electors might have been affirmative” Fr Luigi continued. “Some parts of the new constitution have obtained ample consensus and hopefully will be maintained. The rejection of this draft constitution does not mean the country does not wish to amend the constitution, indeed the call for change remains and a way to satisfy it must be found”.
At the political level the referendum pushed President Mwai Kibaki to dissolve the government. “The referendum results” Kibaki said “made it necessary for me as President to reorganise my government to make it more united and more capable of serving the people of Kenya. I sacked all my ministers and under secretaries immediately”. A new government will be presented within two weeks.
“President Kibaki needs to extend the government to include other groups and form a less litigious government than the previous one” said Fr. Luigi. In fact the dissolved executive was divided with regard to the constitution and had not met since July.
The constitutional reform was rejected by all the opposition groups and by several ministers of the coalition government who said what people wanted was not a strong president but a strong government as Kibaki himself promised when he was elected three years ago. Observers say rejection of the new constitution is a sign of the electors growing malcontent with a President who promised to fight corruption and re-launch the economy in his election campaign.
“I hope the country does not face two years of electoral campaign which would throw us into chaos” said Fr. Luigi. In fact presidential and political elections are scheduled for 2007. “if the new government is more united than the last one then we can go on until the election date. However one positive fact of the referendum is that it was non violent and without incidents, contrary to pessimistic forecasts. Because of fear of disorder schools were closed for a week”. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 24/11/2005 righe 43 parole 523)
