'YES' PANICKS

President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga have shifted focus to Western province in spirited efforts to reverse inroads made by the No camp.

MPs from Western province met Tuesday to map out strategies of popularising the proposed constitution ahead of two Yes campaign rallies to be led by the two principals in Bungoma and Kakamega on Friday and Saturday.

The two principals will be joined in the tour of the province by Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi, who will play the host and local MPs.

The Bungoma and Kakamega rallies seem to follow a pattern where the two principals have been holding Yes campaign rallies in towns previously visited by the rival camp.

Last week, the two principals stormed Machakos and Nakuru, two towns that had previously hosted the No camp.

By organising this weekend’s rallies, the Yes camp appeared to have pressed the panic button after Higher Education minister William Ruto and Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo led the No camp in staging a well attended rally in Bungoma town last weekend.

During the meeting, chaired by Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang’ula, MPs from the province are said to have discussed various ways of countering any gains made by the No camp and plotted strategies of selling the proposed constitution across the region.

Biggest obstacle

The meeting dwelt at length on the distribution of the counties in Western province following feelers that it is likely to pose the biggest obstacle to the Yes campaign in the region.

Mr Mudavadi, who did not attend the meeting because he was in Mombasa on official duties, confirmed that the MPs had met to prepare the ground for the Yes rallies.

“They just want to lay strategies ahead of the Bungoma and Kakamega rallies to ensure that they go on smoothly,” Mr Mudavadi said.

He dismissed reports that the No camp was making inroads in the province, maintaining that the region firmly supported the proposed constitution.

But Mr Jirongo, one of the two MPs from the province who have publicly declared their opposition to the proposed constitution accused the President and the PM of “panicking” after realising that the document will be rejected during the referendum.

“They have panicked that is why they are going all over, if the draft was as popular as they claim, why are they suddenly running up and down?”

The other MP from the province who is backing the No team is Mt Elgon’s Fred Kapondi.

More counties

Assistant minister in the office of the PM, Alfred Khang’ati however denied that the two rallies had been planned to counter the one staged by the No camp in Bungoma.

“They are the ones who planned their rally to pre-empt ours after learning that the President and the PM were coming to Bungoma,” said Mr Khang’ati in whose Kanduyi constituency the Friday rally will be held.

During the No rally, speakers who included Mr Ruto, Mr Jirongo, suspended assistant minister Wilfred Machage and assistant minister Linah Kilimo asked Western province residents to reject the proposed constitution because they deserved more counties than those allocated to them.

They argued that provinces with much smaller populations than Western province had been given the same number or more counties.

If the proposed constitution is passed at the referendum, Western province will be split into four counties – Kakamega, Vihiga, Bungoma and Busia.

Mr Mudavadi, however, defended the distribution of the counties in the province and across the country.

“We will explain to our people how they were distributed, they (No campaigners) should stop spreading falsehoods,” he said.