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Kibaki gives Nakuru four
districts as race hots up
The Standard, Nairobi
Monday October 17, 2005
By Samuel Mburu
President Kibaki yesterday said
Nakuru District would be split into four new administrative units.
The President said the district was
too large and that the creation of the new units would make it
more manageable administratively.
And today, President Kibaki will
meet delegations from the six constituencies in Nakuru at State
House, where the matter of the new districts is likely to be
discussed further.
President Kibaki’s announcement
is likely to be seen by the Orange (No) platform as yet another
campaign freebie handed out by the Government ahead of the
November 21 referendum on the Proposed New Constitution.
The move is also likely to trigger
accusations of electoral gerrymandering, which the current
political leaders loved to heap on the previous regime when they
were in the Opposition.
And the President rounded on the
proponents of the No vote against the proposed constitution,
saying they were reneging on the Naivasha accord, which they
helped forge as Parliament sought the way forward on the review of
the Constitution.
Addressing a rally at Molo Stadium,
the President said he had no input whatsoever in the proposed
constitution. He said the No team had made changes to the five
contentious issues in Naivasha, but had now turned against their
own document.
The President said he had been
assured after the Naivasha meeting by the Parliamentary Select
Committee (PSC) on the review of the Constitution that all
contentious issues had been thrashed out.
"Kenyans are surprised that
the same members of the PSC who came out of Naivasha with an
accord were now campaigning against their own document, the
President said.
"We saw them on television and
on radio. They said all the five issues had been tackled and
agreed upon. How come they are now against their own report?"
he asked.
The President, who was accompanied
by First Lady Lucy, said the No campaign was not sincere to
Kenyans and have not given adequate them reasons why they are
opposed to the draft.
The President attended an
interdenominational prayer service before it was turned into a Yes
rally, with three ministers, three assistant ministers and several
MPs drumming up support for the proposed constitution.
The PSC, when chaired by Eldoret
North MP William Ruto, met in Naivasha and appeared to have
thrashed out the so-called contentious issues in the Draft
Constitution of Kenya 2004, also known as the Bomas Draft.
But as soon as the MPs left the
lakeside resort, they disagreed over the contents of the accord
that was taken to Parliament for amendment before the final draft
came out of Kilifi.
Yesterday, President Kibaki said
the proposed constitution had taken two-and-a-half years to
prepare and Kenyans know its contents. He said he had kept a
distance from the review process as MPs and the Constitution of
Kenya Review Commission (CKRC) prepared the document.
"I stayed at home and received
progress reports. The opponents of the proposed constitution
should know it is their document and not anybody else’s,"
he said.
Ministers Njenga Karume (Special
Programmes), Amos Kimunya (Lands) and John Michuki (Internal
Security) took issue with the Orange campaign, accusing its
proponents of deliberately misleading Kenyans on the contents of
the proposed constitution.
Joined by assistant ministers
Mirugi Kariuki, Alicen Chelaite and Kipkalya Kones, they said the
No team was peddling falsehoods in its bid to defeat the Yes group.
MPs present included Molo’s
Macharia Mukiri and Naivasha’s Jane Kihara who said residents of
Nakuru were ready to vote for the proposed constitution.
President Kibaki promised that the
victims of the 1992 through 1994 ethnic clashes who have not
returned to their homes will be settled once alternative land was
identified.
He said the Government cannot
settle all people at once and they should be patient while the
Government looks for money to buy land for them.
The President while responding to
issues raised by Mukiri, said the logging ban imposed five years
ago would be lifted once modalities of forest management are put
in place.
He announced the Government would
loan the Pyrethrum Board of Kenya (PBK) money to pay farmers who
are demanding over Sh25 million in unpaid deliveries.
The President said the Government
had secured markets for pyrethrum in China and Japan and that he
would meet the PBK directors today and spell out the conditions
for loan from the Government.
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