Raila to miss all the referendum campaigns

By Vitalis Kimutai


Prime Minister Raila Odinga will miss all the referendum campaigns after his doctors advised him to rest for another two weeks.

The ‘Yes’ team will, as a result, conduct their homestretch campaigns in support of the proposed Constitution without the PM, who was slated to attend rallies in Rift Valley Province including one on Friday at Kapkatet stadium in Bureti.

The ‘Yes’ secretariat had sent out media alerts indicating that President Kibaki and the PM would conduct joint rallies in the run up to the referendum next week.

But on Tuesday, Raila revealed during a live interview with a local radio station that his doctors have advised him to rest for another two weeks before resuming normal duties.

The PM has been recuperating at his Karen home after being discharged from Nairobi Hospital four weeks ago, where he had undergone a head surgery.

"Doctors are still attending to me, but I have recovered. I had been given a bed rest of six weeks and I am through with four weeks. I still have two weeks to go. After that I will be back to work," Raila said.

Raila, however, expressed optimism that the ‘Yes’ team will win with a landslide in the August 4 referendum but added they would concede defeat if the ‘No’ team beats them.

The new development dashes hopes for the ‘Yes’ side of having the PM bolster their campaigns in rallies lined up in Rift Valley Province starting on Wednesday and which would have culminated in a rally at the historic Kapkatet grounds in Bureti on Friday.

"If you are voting for ‘Yes’ at the referendum, then you are voting for change. If you are voting ‘No’ then it means you favour the current constitution being used," he said.

But he maintained that whichever way the August 4 referendum poll goes, Kenya should remain a united country.

Raila warned that the government would deal with people threatening others with attacks and eviction if they vote in a particular way during the referendum.

Speaking from his Karen home in Nairobi during a morning live talk show at Kass FM radio station that broadcasts in Kalenjin language, Raila defended the use of civil servants to campaign for the Proposed Constitution in their respective home villages saying no one was being forced to support the document.

Raila said that Permanent Secretaries and other civil servants campaigning for the proposed constitution are doing so voluntarily.

He said that even prisoners had been allowed to have their say in an historic move meant to widen the democratic space in the country.

"President Kibaki and I agreed that the people, including civil servants, should be allowed to practice their democratic right to vote for or against the document at the referendum," he added.

The PM reiterated his earlier stance that the Proposed Constitution became a government document and project after Parliament passed it paving the way for the referendum vote.

"This is a government document and not a political party affair like say, ODM, PNU or KANU," he said.

He said that if the Proposed Constitution is adopted, MPs who are appointed to the Cabinet, will have to relinquish their parliamentary seats as they can not hold two jobs at the same time.

He said those who acquired land legally had nothing to fear since the Proposed Constitution will protect their property.

"Legally acquired land will not be taken away, no community will be displaced if the Proposed Constitution is adopted at the referendum," He said.

Raila said ODM had not disintegrated following the fall out between him and Higher Education Minister William Ruto who is one of his two deputy party leaders – the other being Local Government Minister Musalia Mudavadi.

"We have differences here and there in the party but it does not amount to disintegration," Raila said.

He defended himself against claims that he was a vindictive politician whose character was veering towards that of a dictator.

"If I was a vindictive person, I would not have joined former President Moi’s government following merger of NDP and KANU well knowing that he had detained me," Raila said.

The PM said the eviction of families in Mau forest, the arrest and detention of youths who allegedly took part in post election violence and the intervention of the International Criminal Court had been used to draw a wedge between him and residents of Rift Valley.

"I proposed to the Cabinet that the Attorney General (AG) withdraws cases against youths arrested for alleged involvement in post poll violence while the illegal settlers in Mau were removed to pave way for conservation of the water tower. Those issues were used to put me in a collision course with the Kalenjins," Raila said.