Kenya’s coalition government, elected to power in a blaze of optimism after decades of corruption and autocracy under Daniel arap Moi’s presidency, is in the grip of a crisis over its attempts to reform the country’s democracy.
A draft Constitution that aims to curb the power of the presidency and create a new post of executive prime minister is a bold attempt to prevent the plundering of public assets and the iron-fisted rule that exemplified Moi’s government.
Polls show that the reforms are popular with most Kenyans, many of whom gathered round television sets in bars to applaud as the proposals were passed at a constitutional conference this week.
But a faction close to the new President, Mwai Kibaki, stormed out of the conference and has threatened to block approval of the draft in Parliament.
Kibaki, whose coalition is in danger of falling apart, appealed for calm in a national television address on Thursday night.
”It is imperative that a calm and sober atmosphere prevails at this critical moment in our history,” he said.
”The overriding national and public interest dictates that the entire political leadership, and indeed all Kenyans, should promote the spirit of reconciliation and nationhood.”
But critics say the president has failed to end the feuding between the two main factions in his coalition: his National Alliance of Kenya and the Liberal Democratic Party.
The feud has reached a peak over the Constitution issue, with the dissenters resisting the reforms because they see them as a vehicle for the Liberal Democratic Party to try to win more power.
There is a risk that the row could inflame ethnic rivalries in Kenya, as the two parties draw their support from different groups.
The stakes are high, and this has been reflected in blanket media coverage and mounting public concern.
In the elections of December 2002, Kenyans who despaired of their country’s rising unemployment, corruption and crime voted overwhelmingly for change.
Fighting corruption and bringing in a new Constitution were the key election pledges of Kibaki’s National Rainbow Coalition.
The reforms offer Kenya an opportunity to escape the cycle of misgovernment in Africa that has seen autocratic rulers replaced by leaders who initially promised reform but ended up imitating their predecessors. — Guardian Unlimited Â