As the Kenya constitution campaign threatens to boil over, church leaders in Kenya made stinging criticisms of the country’s politicians yesterday, accusing them of distorting and making false statements on the contents of the draft constitution.
National Council of Churches of Kenya Secretary General Rev Mutava Musyimi, Anglican Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi and Methodist Presiding Bishop Stephen Kanyaru said the campaign ahead of the November referendum was aimed at cheating Kenyans on the contents of the Proposed New Constitution.
Musyimi said the NCCK was particularly concerned about the attempt to use public resources and civil servants to meet party-political aims in the campaign, Kenya’s The Standard reported.
“There is mounting concern over the well-choreographed campaign to distort, misinform and in some instance out rightly make false statements about the process of the constitution review and the content of various documents,” said the NCCK in a statement.
The church leaders said: “This sort of campaign is aimed at cheating Kenyans out of their birthrights to make a constitution for themselves,” said the church leaders.
They urged: “No lasting constitutional foundations can be built on mendacity and half-truths.”
Musyimi also referred to the 60 year anniversary of the collapse of the Hitler regime, warning that the attempt “to build a republic on lies and falsehoods can lead to untold suffering and destruction. We should borrow a leaf from this lesson of history.”
President Mwai Kibaki and Ford-Kenya chairman Musikari Kombo, of the pro-constitution ‘Banana Team’, put down opponents from the ‘Orange Team’, saying that they were running a campaign against a document they had not even read.
This sort of campaign is aimed at cheating Kenyans out of their birthrights to make a constitution for themselves.
Statement by church leaders in Kenya
“Those opposing the proposed constitution have not read and understood the draft but are busy spreading propaganda about how bad the laws are,” said Kibaki.
Critics, however, remain dissatisfied with the proposed constitution and the way the government has handled the increasingly chaotic referendum campaign.
Opponents also fear that the new document retains too many powers for the president, after an earlier draft that distributed power to a prime minister and local authorities was dropped.
A group of foreign diplomats which met with the chairman of the Electoral Commission of Kenya, Samuel Kivuitu, has condemned the numerous riots and outbreaks of violence across Kenya between rival campaigners in the run up to the referendum.Switzerland’s ambassador to Kenya, Pierre Combernous, said: “We have exchanged our concerns with Mr. Kivuitu regarding the fairness, the transparency and the absence of violence that we all want to see in this forthcoming process.”
Canadian High Commissioner Jim Wall told reporters that the diplomats were displeased with the latest revelation that public money was being used by the parties to run the campaigns.
“We look to all political leaders and party executives to ensure party members and political supporters adhere to the Referendum Code of Conduct,” he said. “We expect members of government and government officials to refrain from any inappropriate use of public resources for political purposes, in accordance with the Public Officers Ethics Act,” Mr Wall was quoted in Voice of America as saying.
