It's the big showdown as teams wind down campaigns

Prime Minister Raila Odinga returned to the political stumps at a frenzied rally in Kisumu on Sunday where he hosted President Kibaki, with the two principals predicting a landslide victory for the ‘Yes’ side at Wednesday’s constitutional referendum.

As the two leaders exuded confidence, Higher Education minister and de facto leader of the ‘No’ campaign William Ruto was leading his troops to his Eldoret backyard, where he told a huge crowd of supporters to reject the proposed constitution to allow amendments to disputed clauses.

The two teams were putting up their closing shows three days before voters go to the ballot to adopt or reject the proposed constitution.

Mr Odinga, who appeared jovial and at one time went on a humorous tangent making a joke about his illness which had kept him off the campaign for a month, told his audience that a political tsunami was about to sweep away those who were opposed to the new laws.

President Kibaki said he was confident that Kenyans would pass the proposed constitution and asked that civic education continues after August 4 to pacify those opposed to the new laws.

Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka addressed the meeting, as did a retinue of Cabinet ministers in attendance.

In Eldoret, Mr Ruto pitched for a peaceful vote and said there would be neither tension nor violence in the Rift Valley during or after the vote.

On Sunday, another political showdown looms in Nairobi as the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ camps stage their last major rallies less than 10 kilometres apart.

President Kibaki will lead the ‘Greens’ to Uhuru Park while popular televangelists have announced a prayer rally at Jamhuri Park.

On Mon, President Kibaki, Mr Odinga and the VP will head to Water minister Charity Ngilu’s Kitui Central constituency, where they will hold a rally before concluding their campaign with another rally at Kirigiti stadium in Kiambu in the afternoon.

The VP will be returning to his Ukambani turf three days after he was booed at a rally in Kathiani constituency.

But on Saturday, his aide Kaplich Barsito denied that Mr Musyoka was heckled and accused the ‘No’ camp of fabricating the reports to discredit Mr Musyoka.

“There was no such thing; that is the fertile imagination of the ‘No’ team,” he said.

Video footage the Sunday Nation has shows Mr Musyoka walking towards a hostile crowd and addressing them briefly, asking them to proceed with their meeting before returning to his chopper and flying away.

A co-director of the ‘Yes’ secretariat, Ms Janet Ong’era said another group of ‘Yes’ campaigners will be in Kabarnet and Mt Elgon districts on Monday, where they will stage last-minute rallies in a bid to sway the vote in the two areas perceived to be ‘No’ strongholds.

After his Eldoret rally on Saturday, Mr Ruto is expected to lead the Jamhuri Park meeting, the ‘No’ team’s major city rally since the ill-fated June 13, 2010 Uhuru Park meeting at which six people died following grenade attacks.

According to the director of the ‘No’ campaign, Dr Tom Namwamba, the team resolved to switch venues to the showground after the ‘Yes’ side declared they would use Uhuru Park for their main rally.

“We had initially booked Uhuru Park for our rally only to be forced to seek an alternative after they scheduled their rally there,” Mr Namwamba stated.

The ‘Yes’ rallies come against the backdrop of internal unrest over unpaid salaries and allowances of secretariat staff that almost derailed the team’s campaign ahead of the August 4 referendum.

Sources within the secretariat confirmed that all employees were paid their outstanding salaries and arrears at the Equity Bank Upper Hill branch on Thursday evening after they stormed the Harambee House office of Internal Security permanent secretary Francis Kimemia earlier in the day demanding their money.

The workers had threatened to paralyse the secretariat’s operations if they were not paid, accusing the Internal Security PS of failing to release the funds.

According to a highly placed source who declined to be named because she is not the secretariat’s spokesperson, a total of Sh34 million was released by Mr Kimemia’s office, which was in charge of the ‘Yes’ campaign kitty, to pay the workers’ dues.