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Churches in Kenya ask government to honor pledge on new constitution
2003-079-4
4/10/2003
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[Episcopal News Service]
Church leaders in Kenya have urged the country's new government, as it marked its first 100 days in office, to honor an election pledge to introduce a new constitution for the East African nation.
The ruling National Alliance Rainbow Coalition party of President Mwai Kibaki promised to have a new constitution for Kenya within 100 days of assuming power. In elections last December the party ousted the Kenya African National Union, which had been in power for 40 years. 'Kenyans were promised a new constitution in 100 days if they voted for the opposition coalition,' said the Rev. Habil Omungu of the All Saints Anglican Cathedral. 'But we are still waiting.'
Church leaders have campaigned for a constitution that would limit the power of the presidency. They have also appealed for equal constitutional rights for all religions, arguing that constitutional commissioners appointed by the last parliament drafted a document permitting a special court for Muslims. About 66 per cent of Kenya's 30 million population is Christian and 6 per cent Muslim, with others having mostly traditional animist beliefs.
A national constitutional conference was set for April 28, but some church leaders are uneasy about the sluggish pace of the process, fearing the new government is dragging its feet. '[The new constitution] will guarantee services for all,' said Anglican Bishop Horace Etemesi of Butere optimistically. 'It is also the basis of good governance, but some politicians want to derail its process.'
An interfaith group of religious leaders who met a parliamentary committee on constitutional review on April 3 in Nairobi expressed concerns about the process. 'We are people of faith and not generally used to harping on the negatives, but there comes a time when we have to be downright realistic,' said the Rev. Mutava Musyimi, the general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Kenya.
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