TAX PAYERS TO FUND YES

The ‘Yes’ team wants Sh541 million to finance its referendum campaigns — with expectation that the money will come from the Kenyan Government.

A campaign secretariat is being established at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, with the rent paid by the government. Co-campaign head Janet Ongera said more funds might be raised from donors.

Political strategist

The Sh541 million budget, sources said, was arrived at on Tuesday during a meeting of ‘Yes’ secretariat at Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Treasury Building office.

Duties at the secretariat are shared between ODM and PNU. Ms Ongera from ODM, is joint head of the campaign office, while PNU has Prof Peter Kagwanja, an academic formerly based in South Africa, who has become a key political strategist for the party.

Work was in progress on their first floor offices at Kenyatta International Conference Centre and a completely fitted out secretariat will be completed on Thursday.

At a ‘No’ rally in Meru on Tuesday, MPs Mithika Linturi and Kiema Kilonzo claimed the use of government resources by the ‘Yes’ team was meant to intimidate those opposed to the new constitution. “Everyone pays taxes. We should not have one group enjoying undue favouritism,” he said.

Mr Odinga, through spokesman Dennis Onyango, dismissed the claims stating the ‘Yes’ camp was yet to request for the funds. He said the secretariat was being set up and funding for the campaigns would only come up after operations start. “It is only on Thursday when there will be a full-fledged secretariat and then you can talk of money,” he said.

But Mr Odinga had earlier stated publicly that the ‘Yes’ campaign was an official project since the government had promised to deliver a new constitution under the Agenda 4 reform package. On Wednesday, Ms Ongera said donors and the government were helping to finance the campaigns.

She also added that delivering a new constitution was a government project under Agenda 4, which obliges the Treasury to set aside funds. She seemed to be taking the cue from Mr Odinga’s assertion that the government had financed all commissions created in the National Accord, which ended the violence that followed the 2007 elections.

Sources say the government will provide most of the campaign money. Other support will come through the use of government buildings, transport and vehicles by ministers and assistant ministers attending ‘Yes’ rallies. However, there is nothing to stop ministers in the ‘No’ camp from using their official vehicles while attending ‘No’ rallies.

The government is also appealing for foreign support. Lands minister James Orengo said the PM raised the issue of referendum funds when he met the British Business Association and the American Chamber of Commerce at the Serena Hotel on Tuesday. At the same time, members of the ‘Yes’ secretariat drawn from PNU have asked their political wing to step in and contribute. Apart from the secretariat, the ‘Yes’ campaign strategy has political and the national coordinating committees.

The political committee comprises Mr Odinga, deputy PM Musalia Mudavadi and Cabinet ministers Anyang’ Nyong’o and Henry Kosgey from ODM. PNU is represented by Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, deputy PM Uhuru Kenyatta, and Cabinet ministers Kiraitu Murungi and Moses Wetang’ula. Prof Nyong’o and Mr Murungi head the national coordinating committee.