Raila supports ruling on MRC

The Kenyan DAILY POSTNews13:31

Saturday, the 28^th of July 2012 -Prime Minister Raila Odinga has applauded a ruling by the High Court in Mombasa that reversed the government’s decision to declare the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) an illegal organisation.

Raila was however quick to add that the ruling did not mean that the court had rubber-stamped MRC’s push to get the Coast province to secede from Kenya.

Raila made these comments while at the same time reinterring his call for dialogue between the government and the MRC;

“They should renounce their demands for secession and dialogue with government. The court said that the Mombasa Republican Council should apply for formal recognition and pursue their interests within the law,” he said.

The PM added that the MRC’s grievances should be taken seriously since they are replicated in other regions of the country;

“The same situation is in North Eastern Province, Turkana, Pokot, Samburu and Marakwet. There are even landless people in Central Province,” he said.

“Let us come up with a blueprint for development of the Coast region and ensure that its problems are addressed,” he concluded.

Raila spoke as DPP Keriako Tobiko revealed that the High Court’s ruling on the MRC’s had impacted some of the cases that the government has on its members;

“Obviously the judgment has a significant bearing on many ongoing prosecutions relating to the Mombasa Republican Council,” said Mr Tobiko.

“But the High Court decision was clear that the judgment did not grant a license to people to engage in criminal activity. Some cases are based on criminal acts such as disrupting the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission mock voting exercise or snatching guns from policemen, and these can still be sustained.”

The Kenyan DAILY POST