Pastors beg court to suspend referendum

By WILLIS OKETCH

Officials of the Mombasa Pastors Fellowship have filed a petition in the Interim Independent Constitutional Dispute Resolution Court over contentious issues in the Proposed Constitution.

The clerics want the court to order the Committee of Experts (CoE) to identify contentious issues and have them expunged from the draft.

Other pastors opposed to the draft include Reverend Musyoka Nzui and Agnes Mbinya who are represented by Mombasa lawyer Joseph Munyithya.

They want the court to also suspend some sections in the draft that touch on the rights of those opposed to it.

The clerics, who have also sued the Attorney General and Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitution, want the referendum date postponed.

They argue this would give Kenyans more time to obtain the draft, read it, and make an informed decision.

They claim most Kenyans had not yet received civic education.

Munyithya said he was now waiting for the court to set the date for the hearing of case.

"We want the CoE to publish a harmonised draft for a period of 30 days and present it to the PPSC for consensus building," they said.