Reds and Greens make a dash to the finish line

By MUGUMO MUNENE mmunene@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Saturday, July 24 2010 at 21:00

The referendum campaign teams will intensify their efforts in next 10 days after which Kenyans will go to the ballot to decide their destiny.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga is expected to rejoin the “Yes” campaign for the last three major rallies as the team gives the final pitch for the charter, which pollsters predict will pass by a big majority.

The “No” team has also rolled up its sleeves and will have six teams in their last ditch effort to convince voters to reject the draft across the country.

The efforts will concentrate on reaching out to the undecided voters, who pollsters estimate at about 20 per cent of the voting block and to affirm the support they have bagged so far.

Pollsters Synovate and Infotrak released opinion polls results last Friday – celebrated by the Greens team and rejected by the Reds – which point to pockets of undecided voters across the country who add up to about 20 per cent.

While the Green team has strongholds in Nyanza, Western, Central, Coast, North Eastern and Nairobi provinces, the Reds strongholds is in Rift Valley. Eastern Province has large swathes where voters are undecided or where opinion is mixed.

Some of the “No” strongholds in sections of the Rift Valley are densely populated unlike some of the “Yes” strongholds like North Eastern Province.

Church leaders opposed to the constitution say that they will launch a last plea to their parishioners this week and hold a final prayer rally on Friday.

Separately, politicians allied to Higher Education Minister William Ruto will split into four groups for a simultaneous vote hunt in Western, Eastern, Rift Valley, North Eastern and Coast. Retired President Moi is also scheduled to address a number of rallies ahead of the vote.

Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka kicked off a vote-hunting effort in lower Eastern Province to try and direct the tide to the Green side.

“I will have to share the time with the remaining national rallies... But most of the time, I will be conducting campaigns blitz across the lower Eastern region to ensure that we not only turn the region completely Green but to ensure a higher voter turnout. We will even have constituencies competing for the Green Cup for whichever constituency turns the highest percentage of voters,” the Vice-President told the Sunday Nation on Saturday.

An aide of Mr Odinga, who requested not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the press, told the Sunday Nation that the PM, who has been recuperating at home after surgery at the Nairobi Hospital, will be rejoining the campaign towards the tail end.

Mr Odinga is expected to join President Kibaki and the rest of the “Yes” team for the last of their national rallies at Kapkatet in Kericho, Kisumu and the final one at Uhuru Park in Nairobi. He has been resting at home on the advise of doctors.

MPs have also launched various campaigns at the constituency level after they went on recess last week.

According to the Synovate results, only three per cent of Kenyans are fearful of violence after the referendum.

A separate poll conducted by Infotrak Harris shows that Kenyans have placed great hopes for the country’s future on the proposed constitution.

The pollsters found that about a half of Kenyans would not vote in the 2012 General Election should the proposed constitution fail to sail through at the ballot.

The pollsters found that 68 per cent of Kenyans in the rural would not vote for any political leaders in the “No” camp.

Mutito MP Kiema Kilonzo exuded confidence that the Reds would win the referendum and said they would pull out all stops in the coming days to clinch the victory.

“Our homestretch is well spread out. We started off early enough. We intend to reach all the provinces. We are not shaken (by the opinion polls) because they are meant to hoodwink Kenyans,” said Mutito MP.

Mr Ruto yesterday also dismissed the latest opinion polls that showed “Yes” camp will win with a huge margin.

Mr Ruto who was speaking in Mogotio Township expressed confidence that Kenyans were going to vote against the document, which he termed as divisive and containing controversial clauses.

House Speaker Kenneth Marende said that Parliament unanimously approved the proposed laws and it was now up to Kenyans to make the final choice.

Former Internal Security Minister Chris Murungaru said that he was optimistic that the tensions that arose in 2005 would not arise this time around.

Dr Murungaru, who was at the heart of the “Yes” campaigns in 2005 said that the political waters back then had been poisoned by the disagreements over the pre-election MoU signed between President Kibaki and Mr Odinga in 2002.

At the Coast, Cabinet minister Najib Balala urged Mombasa residents to turn up in large numbers and vote for the proposed constitution during the August 4 referendum.

Tourism minister Najib Balala told residents to forgo many activities on that may hinder them from participating in the polls during the referendum day.

Speaking during a “Yes” rally at Makadara grounds, the backyard of his political rival Hassan Joho, the minister said the proposed constitution has recognised the needs of women, youth and the aged.

The minister said resources including the port of Mombasa will be “brought” to the people if the proposed constitution passes.

Nominated Member of Parliament Sheikh Mohamed Dor told the residents that the proposed constitution does not allow abortion and same sex marriages.

Another nominated MP Ms Shakila Abdallah said the proposed draft constitution has addressed the needs of coast people.

And two Rift valley MPs in the “Yes” camp on Saturday said that selling the proposed constitution in the region was next to impossible.

Home Affairs assistant minister Beatrice Kones and Sotik MP Joyce Laboso said that already the minds of voters in the region had been poisoned by “No” proponents.

Speaking in Kisumu during a women “Yes” rally, Laboso said the proposed constitution had more benefits to women.

Additional reporting by Philip Muyanga, Noah Chepleon and Ouma Wanzala