CONDITIONS

Three MPs on Monday said they were willing to abandon their “No” campaign if the contentious issues in the proposed constitution are presented to the public as an appendix.

Mr Mithika Linturi, Mr Isaac Ruto, and Mr Chris Okemo said isolating the clauses in the draft for a separate vote would end the stalemate.

They said that although they were anxious for the country to get a new constitution, they were not ready to allow a flawed document to be “imposed” on the public.

“Kenyans should be given a chance to vote on the contentious issues by presenting them as an addendum to the draft at the referendum. We are ready to support the isolation of contentious issues for Kenyans to make a decision,” said Mr Linturi.

The Igembe South MP said the issues, namely land, abortion, and the kadhi’s courts, should have been resolved by Parliament before the draft was handed over to the Attorney General.

Mr Ruto accused some leaders he did not name of blocking the presentation of the contentious issues to the voters. Mr Okemo said since Parliament had failed in its role of fine-tuning the draft constitution, the public should have the opportunity to give a final verdict.

The three were echoing last week’s proposal by Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta for a multi-choice referendum in which contentious issues were presented as an addendum to the draft.

Mr Kenyatta, who is also the Finance minister, said this would make the draft more acceptable. The proposal means that Kenyans would vote on the draft constitution and cast a separate vote on abortion, land, and kadhi’s courts.

Meanwhile, Higher Education minister William Ruto has insisted on a No vote, saying the contested issues be resolved before a referendum.

Speaking in his first official function since the Cabinet reshuffle that moved him from Agriculture to Higher Education last week, Mr Ruto on Monday asked fellow leaders to muster the courage and iron out the issues now.

“That is how we are going to build a stable and peaceful nation, by solving immediate problems not postponing them.”

He was addressing 200 students who won university scholarships from Equity Bank after they came top of their districts at last year’s Form Four exams.