Constitutional Noise...
From No, to Yes and back to sitting on the fence, we’ve seen it all this past week as our leaders continue to treat the new draft constitution like a sport with each MP picking a team and scoring a goal for their prospective side either within the confines of parliament or out and about surrounded by the masses of prospective voters. Each valiantly championing his/her side in the hope of spurring them to an outright victory, each eager to gain more fans as he/she criss-crosses the country and speaks to his ever listening and increasingly judgemental fans.
However as in any sport there is bound to be those players that desert their teams in a moment of enlightenment and in anticipation of better things, this past week Najib Balala minister for tourism was the defector who chose to migrate from the No camp to that of those in support of the draft.
In an attempt to quell the tempers of their brothers of the cloth the President and Prime Minister sat down in negotiations with church leaders to prevent the church form ‘mobilising Christians to refuse the draft’. The priests turned out to be tough sells and could not soften their stance against abortion and Kadhi courts, but they did insist that
‘there is still hope’, whether this means that the principals aught to try again is unclear As with any good game this one also has neutrals who do not support either but bide their time on the fence in hopes of eventually making up their minds. These bench warmers often do their best to keep mum on the debate and steer clear of all inflammatory, partisan statements.
There is a large percentage of Kenyans who have not read the draft and have therefore not made up their minds on which team to root for and instead sadly follow their ‘favourite’ or area MP’s opinion on the matter. Some people have said that if such and such MP has said the draft is good… then it must be.
It gets increasingly harder for me and others like me who have read the draft to mull it over and think over all the noise created by the politicians, and although the tug of war that is ensuing is both entertaining and intriguing it gets me no closer to an informed decision.
As voter registration enters another week and electronic voting is introduced, the race is on not only for politicians to gather support but also to register the increasingly disgruntled masses. This however is not the only game being played as some players are keeping both their eyes and minds on the finals and the big prize in 2012.
However as in any sport there is bound to be those players that desert their teams in a moment of enlightenment and in anticipation of better things, this past week Najib Balala minister for tourism was the defector who chose to migrate from the No camp to that of those in support of the draft.
In an attempt to quell the tempers of their brothers of the cloth the President and Prime Minister sat down in negotiations with church leaders to prevent the church form ‘mobilising Christians to refuse the draft’. The priests turned out to be tough sells and could not soften their stance against abortion and Kadhi courts, but they did insist that
‘there is still hope’, whether this means that the principals aught to try again is unclear As with any good game this one also has neutrals who do not support either but bide their time on the fence in hopes of eventually making up their minds. These bench warmers often do their best to keep mum on the debate and steer clear of all inflammatory, partisan statements.
There is a large percentage of Kenyans who have not read the draft and have therefore not made up their minds on which team to root for and instead sadly follow their ‘favourite’ or area MP’s opinion on the matter. Some people have said that if such and such MP has said the draft is good… then it must be.
It gets increasingly harder for me and others like me who have read the draft to mull it over and think over all the noise created by the politicians, and although the tug of war that is ensuing is both entertaining and intriguing it gets me no closer to an informed decision.
As voter registration enters another week and electronic voting is introduced, the race is on not only for politicians to gather support but also to register the increasingly disgruntled masses. This however is not the only game being played as some players are keeping both their eyes and minds on the finals and the big prize in 2012.
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