'YES' CANCELS WESTERN RALLY

Nairobi — The 'Yes' team's rallies planned for Western Province this weekend have been called off.

President Kibaki, who was to lead the campaign with Prime Minister Raila Odinga, is scheduled to attend a function in Embu on Saturday.

Housing minister Soita Shitanda said the two rallies were planned by the 'Yes' secretariat without consulting the President's diary keepers.

"It emerged that the President had committed to (Nairobi Catholic archbishop John) Cardinal Njue to attend a function in Embu," he said.

Mr Shitanda said the rallies would be held next weekend. One of the heads of the 'Yes' secretariat, Dr Peter Kagwanja, said the decision to call off the rallies was reached at a meeting between them and ministers and MPs from Western Province and the larger Trans Nzoia on Tuesday.

Those present included Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang'ula and Mr Shitanda. Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi and Planning minister Wycliffe Oparanya did not attend but were represented.

During the meeting, the MPs told the secretariat they needed more time and resources to prepare for the campaigns. The decision to call off the rallies appears to have caught some of the MPs by surprise as they were already preparing for them.

Mr Alfred Khangati, in whose Kanduyi constituency the Bungoma rally would have been held, has been in the area since last week finalising plans for the function.