ESSENTIAL REFORMS PACKAGE MUST BE ENACTED BY THE KIBAKI GOVERNMENT IF THE PRESIDENT AND GOVERNMENT ARE TO BE SPARED THE WRATH OF THE PEOPLE.

Hon. Martha Karua’s assertion on Sunday March 11, 2007 at Mukurwe in Gatanga that the Kibaki government is not to blame for Kenya ’s failure to enact a new constitution which President Kibaki promised in 2002 is outrageous and naive.

NCEC and Muungano Wa Katiba Mpya reminds this administration that it has managed to undermine every reform issue to its advantage and if it were not for the increased vigilance by Kenyans, we could have lost the fighting spirit for a new Kenya . The constitution agenda is captive to the anti-reform Kibaki administration as is the anti-corruption, the Truth and reconciliation and political and other socio-economic reforms Agenda.

The constitution that the Kibaki regime presented to the referendum was not the people’s constitution. It was NAK’s constitution authored by AG Wako. NAK with the help of Hon. Nyachae’s Parliament Select Committee doctored a constitution in Kilifi in July 2005 and forced it through Parliament in the middle of the night since this regime has bribed almost all MPs and therefore controls the parliament. The President has never apologized to Kenyans for trying to impose a constitution on Kenyans which the Majority rightfully rejected at the referendum.

Before Kilifi, Kibaki had instructed all ministers to walk out of Bomas of Kenya. No where have we ever seen the government walk away from the people who elected it. The government further went to Naivasha under the PSC chairmanship of Hon. Ruto and made an accord it disowned immediately it signed it. Hon. Kiraitu knows this too well.

The Kibaki regime declared that constitution making was a government project. The current minister for constitutional Affairs has carried on with that illegal and illegitimate stance that the constitution is a government project. The President has never apologized for trying to bribe Kenyans to accept his version of the constitution at the referendum.

Hon. Karua convened a Multi-sectoral review Forum last August 2006. After the Forum had made resolutions mandating her to publish the Constitution of Kenya review Bill (to establish organs and the timetable of the review) and the constitution of Kenya Amendment Bill (to entrench the review process) the Minister DID NOT PUBLISH the Bills and instead scuttled the review Process. This resulted in the formation of Muungano wa Katiba Mpya to push for the enactment of the Essential Reforms aimed at entrenching the review process, consolidate democratic gains and level the field for the 2007 elections.

Who is then to be blamed for the lack of a new constitutional order as we head to the elections? Is the minister blaming Kenyans for rejecting the Kibaki version of a constitution made by the government for government and marketed by the regime using public funds?

Ministers in the Kibaki government including Hon. Michuki have publicly declared that their push for a new constitution during the Moi tyranny was to ensure that Moi was out of power but they were not interested in a new constitution. We know that this view has not changed and in fact they have now taken Moi on board as key instructor and strategist to cannibalize democracy.

NCEC and Muungano Wa Katiba Mpya calls on President Mwai Kibaki to reconvene a Dialogue conference before March 24, 2007 when Parliament reconvenes to discuss the Essential reforms Package and consider the Road Map in the Martha Karua Bills. We urge Hon. Martha to just leave Kenyans in peace if she has no new ideas on how to steer the review Process.

In the mean time the country is keen to ensure that the Essential reforms Package is passed in Parliament by April 15, 2007 to trim the powers of the President, consolidate democracy and secure the review process from the interference of this government or any other. Failure for the country to enact the essential reforms package will lead to intense pressure on the government including the stoppage of the passage of the Budget in Parliament.

Signed for NCEC and Muungano Wa Katiba Mpya

Cyprian Nyamwamu
Chief Executive Officer, NCEC and
Co-chair of Muungano Wa Katiba Mpya