WHY THE YES VOTE WOULD BE BETTER.
The clamour and campaigns for a new constitution has been long and quite costly. Many people have lost their lives and others have been left maimed because the powers that were could not imagine a democratic country called Kenya. Our current constituion gave the the president powers to kill, grab land,reward his cronies etc etc because he could not be tried in any court of law within this country.
The presidential system has to go and a better one has been proposed. The fundemental human rights are properly enshrined in the new draft constitution. The church and many other have confirmed that the proposed new constitution is far much better compared to the current one.We must accept that a constitution is ever amended and even some parts repealed. Every year that passes new laws are enacted and therefore the few contentious areas in the new draft constitution cannot and will not deter us from getting a better document, than what we have now.
Honestly, the Kadhis courts should not be in our constitution and even our muslim brothers know that the reasons as to why these courts were sneaked into our current constitution is nolonger relevant but because they like confrontation over non issues they would carry it on.As christians we must be tolerant and pray to God that this part of the constitution be amended or even repealed at the earliest time possible once the new constitution is in place.Kenya will remain a religionless state or the church fraternity would have to propose a section to be included in the constitution to counter this Kadhis court issue, this can be done later and in a better way than stopping what has been earned in 20 good years.
The abortion clause/section/chapter is not acceptable but the money already given out to support it, needs proper strategy to counter.This calls for soberness when the political temparature is low and people are ready to reason as moral beings and not legal creatures. It looks awkward that the christian family would go out and oppose their leaders while the Muslim brothers cheers on. The church leaders MUST read the mood of their flock and know of the best ways to keep them on track. Kenyans want a constitutional dispensation NOW and not tomorrow and therefore our spiritual leaders must listen to us as we have always listened to them. This may sound a bit rebellious but it is the truth that we must preach to the whole world. Kenyans have been oppressed in many ways by the ruling clique for over four decades and anyway that would give more freedom must be supported. We shall continue to agitate for repeal and amendments of the new constitution without oppression and intimadation because the powers of the oppressors would have reduced and controlled, therefore more people will come out and support such causes.
The other issue that has come up from a group of former rulling goons, is that of the land. The issue of land since independence has been very thorny, not in the way that it is present it now but from a perspective that 10% of kenyans are the landlords and the remaining 90% are landless. From the Ndungu report and others that has come to light in the recent past,records show that a few families own large chunks of land equivalent to a province like Nyanza or some countriesof the world. Better parts of such land are lying fallow while many are living as squatters without food. The campaign that the draft constitution is restricting land ownership to certain limits is good for Yes campaign since majority of Kenyans are landless and would rejoice if they were given an equal opportunity to own some land. The land grabbers are already up in arms because they know they stand to loose their ill earned property.The former President Hon.Daniel Arap Moi and his cronies, who for many years rejected the plea for democractic space ought to be ashamed of saying NO at this time in history to a new constitution. Personally am saddened by the fact that this team has cheapened the leaders opinions. Many people would trust anybody seen to be part of a team that would not even listen to the same church from the late 80s todate.
The post election violence in some areas were triggered by land issues and in most areas the anger that had built in our people due to misrule by the previous leaders. The past regimes strived on creating the two tribes of Kenya i.e the Rich and the Poor who for along time did not get achance to confront each other. The ruling elite thought that Kenya was the same as it was at independence. During that dark period, we saw our brothers set on fire in an Eldoret church where the innocent children and women were burnt a live for reasons that could not be justified.In Naivasha people were attacked with machettes and hacked to death in the mostly beastly way that we have ever witnessed All these occurrances amongst other absurdities were as aresult of bad laws that supported RIGGING. If the constitution and other laws on electoral process were the same as in the draft document, then we would have not lost those lives. We MUST stop such killings and primitivity. Any person/s linked to those/such killings have no moral standing in our society. They cannot tell us to reject a constitution that would help us bridge the gap between us and them.
My personal appeal to all kenyans of goodwill including our spiritual leaders is that we get this 90% and struggle for the remainder. Kindly vote wisely and vote for Kenya. Vote YESSSSSSSSUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By: Steve Kizito Owiti
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