One is 78 years old and desperately trying to salvage his legacy. The other is 85 and past caring. In recent weeks Kenya’s president, Mwai Kibaki, and his predecessor, Daniel arap Moi, have shown an energy belying their years in campaigning for and against a historic new constitution, trading public insults along the way.
On Wednesday more than 12-million Kenyan voters finally had their say in a referendum on the proposed legislation. The poll was held amid heavy security to ensure no repitition of the bloodshed that followed the fraud-plagued general election of December 2007, which damaged Kibaki’s reputation at home and abroad.
Delivering a new constitution was a key requirement of the peace deal to end the violence.
The proposed legislation aims to make the president and Parliament more accountable, devolve power, improve citizens’ basic rights and allow the confiscation of stolen land.
“It’s not a magic wand, but it is a massive improvement on what we have,” said Maina Kiai, former chairperson of the Kenya’s human rights commission. “This is a critical moment for the country, a chance for a new beginning.”
Opinion polls suggest Kibaki’s “yes” camp is heading for a comfortable victory. Yet the battle for votes has been heated, divisive and even deadly — an explosion at a “no” rally killed six people.
It has pitted the majority of government ministers — many of them regular churchgoers, including Kibaki, a devout Catholic — against Christian leaders assumed to hold huge sway over the population. The clergy claims the new legislation is a step towards legalising abortion and gives Muslims preferential rights.
Giants of Kenyan politics since independence, Kibaki and Moi have each played key roles in blocking past attempts at legal reform.
Moi forcibly suppressed the first major push for a new constitution in the late 1980s, a decade into his rule. He stepped down in disgrace in 2002 after looting millions of dollars. At Kibaki’s inauguration, crowds sang: “Everything is possible without Moi.”
He seemed content to stay out of politics in return for tacit immunity from charges of corruption and human rights abuses. But in recent months he has defied Kibaki, flying around the country by helicopter and urging a “no” vote. Moi says the new constitution, drafted by Kenyan and African legal experts, is Western-influenced and will stir up ethnic animosity. But his critics claim he is sowing division, especially by encouraging his Kalenjin ethnic group to reject the vote, and that he is seeking to protect his vast land-holdings, which could be investigated under the new law.
Alongside Moi in the “no” camp is his one-time protégé, William Ruto, the most powerful Kalenjin in government, whom human rights groups accuse of complicity in the 2007 election violence. Ruto claims the proposed constitution will lead to the legalisation of gay marriage, even though it expressly states that marriage is only for heterosexual couples. The church’s claims on abortion also do not bear scrutiny, since the new legislation expressly outlaws it except when a medical professional attests that the mother’s life is in danger.
Some “no” supporters believe the opinion polls are wrong.
“This might be closer than people think,” said Mutahi Ngunyi, a political analyst. “It was drawn up in a hurry, and there is suspicion about foreign interests.”
The famously lethargic Kibaki took on the job of leading the “yes” campaign after Prime Minister Raila Odinga fell ill in June. Analysts say that he is driven by the desire to redeem his reputation before he retires in 2012.
Last week he publicly chastised Moi for the first time since 2002, saying his “no” campaign was a “shame”. Moi responded that Kibaki had failed to deliver a new constitution within 100 days of taking power in 2002.The referendum result is expected on Friday. —