UHURU ANSWERS RAILA: Jubilee has dismissed a campaign by its Coalition for Reforms and Democracy rival to push for a referendum to the Constitution. Member parties TNA and URP national officials said it is too early to make conclusions devolution cannot effectively be implemented with the current status of the Constitution. TNA Secretary-General Onyango Oloo said Jubilee should be given space to implement its manifesto and complete its five-year term after which Kenyans will make their judgement. “Unfortunately, we have discovered there are some leaders who keep dragging us into petty politics. Those who lost in the last elections should wait because we have just begun implementing our manifesto.” Speaking at a news conference in Nairobi, Oloo insisted Jubilee is not afraid of a referendum but maintained Kenyans must be given time to make proper decisions before going to the ballot. “Politics must wait a bit. Jubilee has not been in power for even two years,” he said. Oloo was accompanied by URP party NEC member Leah Ntimama, Secretary-General Fred Muteti and executive director Davy Koech. Last week, former Prime Minister and CORD leader Raila Odinga said some clauses of the Constitution needed amendment to make devolution effective. Raila said devolved governments will not be effective if some articles of the Constitution remain in their current state. He urged senators to expedite the process of collecting a million signatures so that a referendum can be held to enable amendment of contentious articles of the law. And early this week, CORD senators announced they have embarked on a campaign seeking to push for a referendum to amend the Constitution to give the Senate more powers to have the final decision on the counties’ revenue allocation. Senator Johnstone Muthama (Machakos) said there is great need for the amendment of the Constitution to give them adequate powers to deliberate on county development. He said devolution seeks to bring development into the counties but there seemed to be a deliberate attempt to sabotage its progress hence the need to protect it. On Wednesday, Oloo said two years were not sufficient for Jubilee to put enough structures for effective implementation of devolution. “Election losers should play the role of keeping the Government on its toes but not engaging in petty politics.”
Posted on: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 06:23:40 +0000
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