7 000 000 BATTLE

Kenyans who have registered in new voters’ roll hit the seven million-mark this week, out of the ten million voters the Interim Independent Electoral Commission targets for the referendum.

Despite low returns by 18 constituencies set aside for Electronic Voter Register pilot programme, which started the exercise last week, it emerged over 70 per cent of Kenyans IIEC targets already have their voting cards.

The news broke along with revelation Members of Parliament have not given up hopes of amending the Proposed Constitution, and that there is now renewed pressure to remove the contentious clauses from the document that will go to the referendum in July.

Figures released by IIEC showed Kenyans’ enthusiasm to take part in the referendum is high, with only two weeks to go.

The interim figures came out as Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo confirmed the Attorney General Amos Wako would publish the Proposed Constitution on May 6 a day after the voter register is closed.

Figures released by the commission showed 6,977,192 had registered, and the North Rift leading with 619,335.

In percentage terms Ijara constituency in North Eastern Province leads, having registered 11,320 voters of expected 12,703, which constitutes 89 per cent.

But among the 17 voting blocs IIEC delineated, North Rift leads with 619,335 of the possible 1,265,597. This is despite the fact that Agriculture Minister William Ruto’s Eldoret North, which has 144,000 voters, has only registered 38,000 because it is in the electronic voter category.

South Rift follows with 599,301 registering afresh of 996,084.

Central Region (Thika) follows closely at third place, with 580,953 new voters.

Nyanza South has registered 579,635, while Nyanza Central region has 549,975. Out of 1.4 million targeted in Nairobi, only 470,016 have enrolled.


After MPs failed to push through amendments to the Proposed Constitution in Parliament, they left it upon the public to adopt or reject the document. Now, a group of MPs led by Nambale’s Chris Okemo wants the Constitution of Kenya Review Act 2008 amended to isolate contentious issues so they can be voted for later.

IlEC Chairman Ahmed Issack said there would be no extension of the registration period, and called on Kenyans who qualify to vote to register before May 5.

The chairman of Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional Review, Abdikadir Mohamed, said the window for amendments had closed and focus should now be on registration of voters. He said attempts by some MPs to push for amendments would not succeed as time was out.

Contentious issues

He was reacting to reports Nambale MP Chris Okemo has started a new bid to amend the Constitution of Kenya Review Act 2008, to isolate contentious issues in the Proposed Constitution so that they can be voted on separately.

Okemo’s proposal seeks to allow Kenyans to decide the fate of four contentious issues – land, abortion, devolution and Kadhis’ courts – separately from other provisions in the draft at the referendum.

He also wants Parliament to be reconvened urgently to push through the amendments and to save time. "I propose the extraction of contentious issues to be subjected to Kenyans not MPs, Church leaders or the Committee of Experts," Okemo said.

"That proposal is next to impossible because this process is almost at the closing stages. This train left the station long time ago," said Abdikadir, adding: "If we were to halt the process to talk about devolution for example, we know an agreement would not be reached today or tomorrow," he said.

He said the timelines for the process have been set and stopping the process would mean the schedules would be disrupted."

He added: "We are only waiting for the Attorney General to publish the Proposed Constitution and the Interim Electoral Commission to complete voter registration and we would be one step from voting," he said.

"The review should not be held back by the issues being raised now because politicians have been overseeing the process all along and should have made their input," he said.

Okemo said the proposal would shore up consensus for the draft and unite Kenyans. "If the amendment were to go through, the floodgates of contentious issues would include the hundreds the MPs were proposing in the House. Once this happens, the process would abort. Let the draft go to the referendum as it is," former Kabete MP Paul Muite advised.

divisive campaigns

Meanwhile, President Kibaki yesterday took his ‘Yes’ campaign to a gathering of 400 elders at the Bomas of Kenya. Kibaki, who was accompanied by Prime Minister, Raila Odinga said the country should not be subjected to divisive campaigns.

"If you see somebody lost on this issue, go to him as an elder and talk to him. Don’t harass him for what he or she stands for. Reason with him and tell them that this country needs this thing," said the President.

He said the new law would guarantee national cohesion by providing for every person’s equal enjoyment of civil and political freedoms, as well as socio-economic and cultural rights.

Mutula also announced the Government had selected representatives to engage the Church on the contentious issues that threaten the attainment of a new constitution.

The State-Church groups will meet on Monday. The Government side is made up of Cabinet ministers James Orengo, Sally Kosgei, Mohammed Elmi, Beth Mugo, Moses Wetang’ula, Mutula and Wako. It also includes MP Amina Abdullah.

"Those punching holes in the Proposed Constitution are challenging what we agreed on in Serena. It is not enough to say you want reforms when you are fighting the same reforms," Mutula said.

He said the CoE was fine-tuning documents for civic education, after which IIEC would take over and relay the message to Kenyans.

The minister made the announcement as the Committee of Experts sounded an alarm about hate propaganda being circulated ahead of the referendum. Chairman Nzamba Kitonga said they were alarmed by e-mails circulating propaganda about the Kadhis’ courts.

The e-mails urge Christians to vote ‘No’ because the draft would make Kenya an Islamic State.

The Chief Executive Officer of Brand Kenya, the Government agency that seeks to promote the country’s image to boost tourism and investments, Mary Kimonye, also cautioned that the trend the debate was taking could hurt the economy.