President’s men’s loyalty on draft in question ahead of referendum

By Gakuu Mathenge

Renowned civil rights crusader and preacher, Dr Martin Luther King, once warned about betrayal and insidious opposition to change by close allies.

He said: "In the end we shall remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

The celebrated preacher could as well have been talking about President Kibaki, whose most trusted allies inside PNU and Civil Service have been undermining his push for a new constitution through a stealth revolt of ambivalence and curious silence.

Speculation is rife that after initial push to postpone the referendum flopped, a Plan B has been hatched to shoot down the draft to create a platform for demands for resignation of President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to cripple the Grand Coalition Government and force an early General Election.

Clandestine insertion of illegal words into the draft by civil servants is blamed on the same forces.

They are also suspected of funding the ‘Reds’ campaigns against the proposed law.

"It is upsetting and the worst form of betrayal for individuals to play games attending ‘Yes’ rallies with the President, while they are busy undermining him under the table. I am opposed to the draft but I have opted not to join the ‘No’ campaign," said Nominated MP George Nyamweya.

Although the Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka has never publicly opposed the draft, his constant appeals for understanding of the ‘No’ camp, has exposed him to accusations of equivocation and a reluctant ‘Yesser’, more out of courtesy to his boss than conviction.

Critical areas

Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta is the man on the spot for failure by Treasury to release civic education funds for weeks, a situation seen by his critics as meant to give the ‘No’ camp some mileage on the campaign trial.

Though the impasse over CoE funds was resolved on Thursday following intervention by Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Treasury will be hard put to explain its initial intransigence was not a deliberate plot to derail civic education and the draft.

The PM announced some Sh553 million would be made available to the CoE for civic education.

Apparently, more energy and time is being expended to stop Raila from riding on the referendum campaigns to launch his bid for the 2012 presidential race than towards countering the combined force of a section of Church leaders and politicians opposed to the Proposed constitution.

Night meetings between senior Government operatives and some ministers in the ‘Yes’ camp and ‘No’ camp, equivocation and negative statements by allies of President Kibaki are viewed as ‘outsourcing’ voices to say what they would not say publicly for fear of losing their jobs.

A week ago, Kalonzo’s political ally and PNU Deputy Chief Whip, Johnstone Muthama, joined Assistant Minister Jebii Kilimo in Marakwet, where he said: "I’m not convinced this draft is good, I’m only saying ‘Yes’ because we passed it in Parliament."

Information Minister and ODM-Kenya Chairman, Samuel Poghisio, has also opposed the draft.

Environment Minister and one of the political and business heavyweights from Central Province, John Michuki, has been among the few bold Kibaki allies to oppose the draft.

Michuki says a provision to allow disciplined forces to picket and demonstrate is a recipe for anarchy.

Analysts say the draft threatens vested interests and some Kibaki allies are thinking about their positions after his departure. "Kibaki has a clear conscience and is not threatened by a new constitutional order, but some facets of the Proposed Constitution do not favour certain interests," says Centre for Multi-Party Democracy Deputy Director Carrey Francis Onyango.

Before the PM’s intervention, Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo had threatened to appeal to donors to fund civic education in the face of Treasury’s intransigence: "They are afraid of the revolution that is coming. But they are not brave enough to say no. They are hiding behind churches. If Treasury continues being intransigent, we will ask donors, including the business community, to contribute to civic education. The Proposed Constitution is good for business."

The perception of a quiet revolt against the draft is fuelled by the silence of PNU leaders who do not explain the benefits and radical reforms inherent in the draft if it were to pass. In their political spheres of influence, they limit themselves to general and vague statements when they cannot avoid it.

Among PNU top ranks, only Kibaki, Energy Minister and PNU Secretary General Kiraitu Murungi and Mutula have been passionate about the draft.

Kiraitu said about those undecided: "We have been fighting for a document that guarantees equity and justice, human rights, human dignity and guarantees economic prosperity for all. There is nothing in the draft that we cannot live with. Those saying ‘Yes’ by day and ‘No’ by night will not go anywhere; they will not succeed."

Kiraitu and Deputy PM Musalia Mudavadi were the first to join Raila in endorsing the draft to be passed as it is, after consensus talks to agree on amendments failed.

Nyamweya, who has been involved in Kibaki’s presidential campaigns since 1992 warns: "The duplicity by Kibaki’s allies, combined with the ‘No’ campaign and opposition by the Church will result in apathy and low turnout, which could hurt the draft’s credibility. The draft should be endorsed by a comfortable majority of voters for it to enjoy legitimacy."