Hell breaks loose in Government

By Ally Jamah

Five independent commissions overseeing the implementation of long-term reform agenda and prevention of recurrence of violence are up in arms against the State.

Though they are tasked with the delivery of the Agenda 4 programmes, in whose name President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga have deployed top Civil Servants to campaign for ‘Yes’, the commissions have ruled the two principals "out of order".

They have also openly disagreed with the President’s act of dishing out districts at ‘Yes’ rallies, and the PM’s green light to PSs to campaign for the Proposed Constitution. This week Raila defended his action thus: "PSs are employees of Government. Why should you deny another Kenyan the right to deliver a new constitution? They are Kenyans just like others."

They also took exception to hate speeches at political rallies, and even attempts to disrupt some of the meetings.

The groups that spoke under one roof are the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC), the Committee of Experts (CoE), National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC), Interim Independent Boundaries Review Commission (IIBRC), and Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC). Their heads addressed a press conference at CoE offices at Delta House, Nairobi. They issued a joint statement in which they expressed displeasure at how the Government was conducting the campaign for the proposed laws and said creation of districts could be seen as a way of influencing voters.

The chairman of IIEC, which is the arbiter of the referendum race, Ahmed Isaack, set the tempo of the commissions’ joint news conference when he said: "Civil Servants should be excluded from campaigns. They are supposed to be neutral providers of services to all Kenyans."

They swung into action a day after an attempt to disrupt former President Moi’s ‘No’ rally in Suswa, two days after Higher Education Minister William Ruto was met with hostility in Eastern Province, and a day after Kibaki created three districts and promised to put up a public university in North Eastern Province, while campaigning in Garissa.

Agenda 4 Items

Ruto, who is a member of The Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation team, which created the Agenda 4 Items, had accused these public bodies of engaging in a "conspiracy of silence" as the Government flouted the law.

The verdict of the independent commissions could also spark claims the Government is engaging in the same impunity the proposed laws are supposed to cure.

The action of the commissions could also reignite debate on whether Public Officers Ethics Act, which prohibits civil servants from engaging in politics, should have been disregarded for the referendum’s sake.

Yesterday, PSs who were ordered to go and campaign in their rural homes were still lobbying for ‘Yes’. One group of PSs in Western Province directly took on ‘No’ team claiming the ‘Reds’ were bribing voters.

"We are trying to engage top leaders in the ‘Yes’ camp to exclude Permanent Secretaries, PCs and DCs from the campaigns," said Isaack.

IIBRC chairman Andrew Ligale also described as illegal the three new districts President Kibaki created saying, "We should be careful not to create new districts haphazardly." He asked the State to give it a chance to "systematically" execute it work.

Mr Ligale argued the hundreds of districts created by Kibaki since he came to office were unaffordable to Kenyans. The five leaders asked ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ politicians to conduct their campaigns in a level- headed manner.

"The commissions have noted with great concern the inflammatory utterances by political leaders, the public confrontations, and the issuance of threats and other inciting rhetoric that have characterised the campaigns so far," they said.

They condemned the attempt by ‘Yes’ supporters to disrupt a ‘No’ rally in Suswa on Wednesday. At one point they tried to stop Moi from landing near the venue.

But they also had a complaint against speakers at Suswa rally: "Leaders in both camps made very inflammatory statements at Suswa and we have begun investigating to see if they amount to hate speech," said NCIC chairman Mzalendo Kibunjia.

A sad reminder

The leaders also condemned a confrontation that occurred in Kitui where ‘Yes’ youth injured ‘No’ supporters.

Water Minister Charity Ngilu’s driver and personal aide have been arrested over the incident, and police said they would charge them with assault.

"It is indeed unfortunate that some of the utterances from political leaders are a sad reminder that they may not have learnt any serious lessons from post-election violence that almost tore our country apart in 2007/2008," read a joint statement.

CoE Chairman Nzamba Kitonga said Kenyans should be left to study the Proposed Constitution and freely make their own choices. "This is not a moment to play politics and engage in popularity contests among individuals, parties or religious groups. No Kenyan should therefore be threatened or intimidated on the basis of their individual decision to vote ‘Yes’ or ‘No’’’ he said.

Issack also assured Kenyans the referendum would not be rigged and said it was wrong for the ‘Reds’ to allege that there were plans to steal the vote. "We have all systems in place to ensure we have a free and fair vote and to claim the referendum would be rigged without producing proof is a serious allegation that may attract censure," he warned.

TJRC Chairman Bethwel Kiplagat said the rigging claims might discourage some Kenyans from voting, and urged leaders to cease making such claims. "We want to still have a nation once the results of the referendum are announced. We don’t want to see people rejecting the outcome, and increasing risks of violence like after 2007 presidential election," the team said.