Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Jubilee plots to halt Senate referendum bid

Updated Monday, June 17th 2013 at 21:43 GMT +3


By Moses Njagih
Nairobi, Kenya: Details have emerged of a political counter-offensive launched at the weekend by President Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto in response to the Senate’s push for a referendum over devolution.
As the Senate’s Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee meets this morning determined to return the country to the ballot in a bid to amend the Constitution, sources disclose a wellorchestrated plot being hatched by theJubilee leadership to neutralise the move.
The counter-offensive has seen a number ofJubilee senators distancing themselves from the collection of one million signatures launched last week.
Kenyatta and Ruto are said to be keen to stop the clamour for constitutional amendments, fearing it could have negative and far-reaching implications on their three-month old government.
But senators say they will soldier on with the campaign to amend the constitution and ensure that the Senate gets its rightful legislative place on all matters involving devolved governments.
Consequently, the clamour for constitutional amendments will gain momentum this morning when a House committee convenes to determine the specifics of the law they want changed to cushion devolution.
The two Jubilee kingpins are said to be worried that the Senate campaign for a referendum question could grant the opposition a podium to hit out at them as being opposed to devolution.
“The (minority) Cord Coalition has accused the Executive of being keen on frustrating devolution and there is fear that by going the referendum way, we could be presenting them with an opportunity to hit at the government,” said a Senator from North Rift Valley. Monday, a number of senators and governors from Central Kenya also intimated that they were “going slow on the issue after seeing a political angle in it.”
“We were united in pushing for the amendment but we have decided to take a back seat and give dialogue a chance. We don’t want a situation where the issue (of devolution) will be used to fight the government,” said a senator who requested not to be named.
Too early
Said Murang’a Governor Mwangi Wa Iria: “It is too early to propose an amendment of the constitution.” To stem the move for amending the Constitution, Ruto is said to have held a meeting with some Senators from the Jubilee side on Sunday, where he urged them to “go easy” on their push, warning them that they could be playing into Cord Coalition’s scheme.
But the source said some of the senators wanted a compromise arrived and the government to show commitments towards devolution by ensuring sufficient funds, more than the Sh210 billion factored by National Assembly for counties, are allocated to the devolved units.
Leader of Majority in the Senate Prof Kithure Kindiki, who was initially very vocal in the demand for the signatures, has indicated that the Senate could drop its move for constitutional amendments to give the House more powers and entrench devolution, but said this would only be on strict conditions. Kindiki, one of the senators Ruto is said to have convinced to abandon the demands, told a crowd in Bomet that Ruto would initiate “an alternative route”.

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