Hostile reception for Red team

The ‘No’ team on Tuesday came face to face with a hostile audience who censured them for their stand on the proposed laws.

In the first debate organised by the Kenya Alliance of Resident Associations (KARA), Dr Tom Namwamba, the head of the ‘No’ secretariat, on Tuesday had a hard task selling the team’s stand to the audience from the private and public sectors.

The ‘Yes’ team, represented by Prof Peter Wanyande and Mr Mutakha Kangu, accused their rivals of lying about the contents of the proposed constitution.

The Greens also claimed that their rivals were spending a lot of time and resources on peripheral issues that have little to do with the constitution debate.

Former Constitution of Kenya Review Commission (CKRC) chairman Yash Pal Ghai moderated the session at the Panafric Hotel on the topic “Understanding the Arguments of Green and Red: Isolating the Myths from Facts”.

Apart from Dr Namwamba, the Red team was also represented by Prof Jesse Mugambi of the University of Nairobi. Prof Mugambi said the kadhi courts give undue advantage to one religion over others.

“It would only be wise to put off the referendum until we can agree on the same things,” he said. The proposed constitution did not have the aspiration of Kenyans, Dr Namwamba said amid boos and jeers.

“You must listen to all the voices even if you don’t like it,” he charged at the audience during the plenary session. On his part, Prof Wanyande said politicians rejecting the proposed law are major beneficiaries of past illegal deals.

A member of the audience, Dr Tom Wolff, told the Red team to come up with a counter draft of issues as they would want them in the proposed constitution.

KARA boss Stephen Mutoro asked the Interim Independent Dispute Resolution Court not to interfere with the referendum date.