ELDERS MEETING ENDS

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has rallied the country’s elders to vote for the proposed constitution in the referendum.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the national elders' conference, Mr Odinga said the new law offered a “safe and conducive environment for doing our politics".

“Matters of politics can either build or destroy a country; politics can also be modelled into a tool to push this country forward,” the Prime Minister told the close to 500 elders meeting at Bomas of Kenya Thursday.

Thursday, was the last day of the four-day conference hosted by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission.

After repeating the coalition government’s call for the elders to shun tribalism, the PM then launched into campaign mode.

He told the elders that the new constitution was the country’s best compromise in it’s two-decade journey to get a new law.

President Kibaki and Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka had earlier in the week met the elders and pushed for the new law.

Mr Odinga ruled out amendments to the proposed law saying “the boat had already hit the waters and the journey is unstoppable.”

“We can’t keep talking until the cows come home... because we’ll never agree on most of these issues,” he said.

He reminded elders that it was at that very venue, the Bomas hut-like auditorium, that “the whole of Kenya met” to chat the reform agenda. The PM insisted that even then, “some people walked out, went to Kilifi, made some changes and that’s why Kenyans rejected the referendum draft in 2005".

He told the elders that after the Bomas conference, only four issues were contested: Devolution, executive, representation and transition clauses. He criticised the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitution Review for “going to Naivasha and touching on issues that were not even contentious in the first place".

Although the PSC struck a deal on the all the contentious clauses, it did go through the whole document making amendments to accommodate all the objections raised, including insertion of the “life begins at conception” clause in the Bill of Rights. The Church had pushed for the insertion of this clause.

Kadhis' courts, land and abortion are some of the emerging contentious clauses in the run-up to the referendum in August.

“The kadhis' court were not contested here at Bomas back then; the bishops were all here and didn’t raise objections then,” Mr Odinga told the elders.

“Even the Muslims are not obliged to go to the Kadhi, they do so on their own volition. How does that affect me Raila Odinga as a Christian? If we say, strike out the kadhis' courts, will the Muslims agree?”

He then went onto the 'abortion clause’ in which he said it was important to protect the life of the mother and the baby because “every doctor will try to do so".

He said if abortion is completely outlawed, doctors will be afraid of performing emergency treatment on pregnant women because they will be afraid of being arrested.

The pro-life activist argue that the proposed law will allow 'abortion on demand’ given the vague use of 'health professional’ which gives any nurse, doctor or clinical officer the leeway to sanction an abortion.

Mr Odinga added that the devolved funds to the county that had been put at 'at least 15 per cent’ was likely to be increased to “20, 25 or even 30 per cent” depending on the performance of the economy.

His other selling points on the proposed law were on the senate (as custodians of devolved units), the equalisation fund (for marginalised areas) and the assurance that “no land will be taken away".

The Prime Minister then ended his campaign in his trademark style: “I don’t want you (elders) to leave this place with any doubts. If I say 'Katiba’, you say 'Yes’.” And thus the chant ensued.

The political significance of Mr Odinga’s strategy will be seen as the elders go back to their homes to push for national unity in their villages.