Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Nairobi (Fides Service)- “The unrest over the past few days are connected with the electoral campaign for 2007 which has already opened” said local sources with regard to clashes between police and demonstrators in Nairobi and other towns in Kenya protesting the new Constitution. In clashes yesterday 20 July, one person was killed and 27 were injured .
The demonstrators are protesting against a new draft of the constitution which replaced the previous one. The previous draft established that instead of a presidential republic Kenya would become a parlimentary republic in which the president has only powers of control. It created the new figure of a Premier who would in fact govern the country. On the basis of this type of constitution which was to be approved in 100 days, the great Raiunbow coalition was launched. Within it the premier was formally indicated: Raila Odinga, strong personality but of Luo origin which meant that Kenya would never open for him the doors to the first position in the country, President. In December 2002 Rainbow won the elections after the government of Kanu Kenya African National Union in power since independence and 24 years of rule by President Daniel Arap Moi.
But that constitution was not approved, amidst much strife political and other, and now we have this new project which leaves the President with full power.
“Government delays and hesitation to approve the Constitution disppointed many voters of the coalition which had built up hopes when it was elected” the sources told Fides. “Many took to the streets to demonstrate spontaneously but it is also true that the people’s anger is fed and exploited by a number of politicians in view of the elections in 2007”. “The coalition in power is not so united and this is causing paralysis in decision making with serious consequences for the econonomy and public order”.
In the meantime about twenty people were killed in tribal clashes during the night of 19 July near the Kenya Uganda border. Violence started after 200 raiders from the Ugandan side entered Turkana on the Kenya side and stole about forty heads of cattle killing at least one person, a 12 year old boy minding the herd.
“Things are difficult everywhere in northern Kenya. Ongoing violence originates from disputes over scarcity of water, pastures, animals as well as broader motivations of an economic and political nature” the sources told Fides. “At the political level the region is governed by the opposition. But political leaders here refer more to their tribe than to the state and trying favour their own tribe rather than another with regard to assignment of resources ”
“Recently old disputes between Gabra and Turkana have flared up again also because the Gabra have developed more dynamic and competitive economic structures which damage the interests of the Turkana. Despite appearances rather than ancestral violence these conflicts have a precise historical evolution” the sources conclude. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 21/7/2005 righe 44 parole 573)
