RUBBER STAMP

The National Cohesion Commission has averred that it will not be used by politicians to further their agenda.

"We are not a rubber stamp to propagate an agenda for certain groups and will not favour any camp mighty or small in enforcing the hate speech rule," the group says.

However, even as it refutes claims of being partisan, the commission will find it hard to convince the public of its neutrality after it afforded the Prime Minister a platform to campaign for the draft constitution.

Thursday's closure of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission conference at the Bomas of Kenya, Nairobi provided the perfect platform for Odinga to drum up support for the draft constitution.

The move did not augur well with those opposed to the draft constitution who have already accused the commission of being biased towards the no camp in applying the rule on hate speech.

The first to throw the salvo was NCCK which alleged the commission would be used to sacrifice those opposing the draft constitution.

However the commission chairman Mzalendo Kibunja defended the PM's move to use the commission's platform to campaign for the draft saying even those opposed to the draft had a right to use any forum they so wished to sell their ideas, as long as they were devoid of hate speech.

And as the referendum campaign heats up, Kibunja says his team will be particularly keen on errant politicians to ensure their utterances do not divide the country as it happened in the early days of 2008.

Kibunja said as an honest arbiter and broker, the commission seeks a cohesive road map towards a peaceful referendum which will involve talking with all Kenyans.

"We have no position for either YES or NO as regards the draft constitution" Kibunja said adding that Chapter 5 of the current constitution allows for freedom of speech and proponents of the NO and YES campaigns were free to express their opinions.

However the freedoms must be exercised in caution to ensure they were devoid of threatening, abusive and insulting words or behaviour that may lead to ethnic, racial and religious hatred.

Odinga who was guest of honour at the conference said that the Government was determined to recreate the country and recapture the spirit of nationalism.

"We are going to great lengths to recapture the nationalistic spirit that pushed this country to and immediately after independence and which appear to have been lost," he said.

He reiterated that the country needs practical strategies to promote tolerance, understanding and acceptance of diversity among the Kenyan communities and pledged the Government's commitment to promote national cohesion and reconciliation.

The four day conference brought together an estimated 500 elders drawn from all districts to deliberate on possible solutions to ethnicity, nepotism, and unemployment which have adversely affected the country.

Meanwhile the National Conference of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) has criticized retired ACK Archbishop David Gitari for supporting the draft constitution in its current state saying this was his personal opinion and not that of the Anglican Church of Kenya.

NCCK Secretary General Rev. Canon Peter Karanja said though NCCK respected and honored retired church leaders, Gitari should be advised to allow the incumbent Archbishop Eliud Wabukala to speak on behalf of the ACK fraternity on the draft constitution.

Karanja expressed hope that consensus building between the church and the government representatives scheduled from next Monday would bear fruits.

He urged the government to address the concerns of the church in the draft constitution saying the church was only championing the interests and aspirations of Kenyans.

Addressing the press at the South Rift regional conference of the NCCK in Nakuru, the church leaders urged the government to speed up the consensus building process to ensure that an agreement was reached before the referendum.

They reiterated their earlier stand that the church will vote NO at the referendum if their concerns were not fully addressed.

The Church in Kenya has vowed to mobilize their flock to shoot down the draft constitution unless the clauses on the right to life and the Kadhis' courts were deleted from the draft.