KENYAN ELECTION and security officials say they expect today’s constitutional referendum, the first vote since the country’s contentious 2007 election, to pass off peacefully.
Speaking to The Irish Timesyesterday, Kenyan police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said he did not expect to see a repeat of the violence that left over 1,000 people dead in late 2007 and early 2008.
“We have deployed police in traditional hotspots like the Rift Valley but we have had no hard or fast reports of any eruptions of violence,” he said. “The mood is good and we expect the referendum to pass off peacefully.”
Kenyans are voting in a referendum on a new constitution, which will replace the one created on independence from Britain in 1963.
Part of a reform process to prevent further outbreaks of violence at the next presidential election in 2012, the draft constitution curbs the enormous powers held by the president, by setting up a US-style system of checks and balances in government.
MPs would also have to vote to approve the president’s choice of cabinet ministers and judges. However, a controversial provision that allows for the establishment of a land commission has stirred emotions in the Rift Valley, where the issue of land is close to many people’s hearts.
Some of Kenya’s post-independence leaders are accused of acquiring land unfairly from white farmers leaving the area after independence, while politicians have also been accused of benefiting from land deals whereby title to public land was allocated to them in irregular deals.
“There are a few leaders from the Rift Valley who have a direct interest in the land issue and they are probably afraid of the introduction of an element of accountability that comes with the constitution” said Atieno Ndomo, a Kenyan policy analyst.
“But we haven’t dealt with land inequalities since independence, which this constitution aims to do. Land is the one area where you can link the abuse of power with the impoverishment of Kenyans.”
Christian leaders are also opposed to proposed provisions that will allow for abortion on medical grounds and legitimise Muslim Kadhi courts, which deal largely with family matters.
Kenya’s president Mwai Kibaki and prime minister Raila Odinga, former rivals who represent two of the country’s largest tribes, back the constitution while former president Daniel Arup Moi has come out against it in recent weeks.
Around 68 per cent of people are expected to vote ‘Yes’, according to a poll last week.
“I do feel there is change in the air,” said Kui Ericka Wa Wanjeri, a member of the grassroots campaign movement ‘Vote Peacefully Kenya’.
“People are talking about peace on the radio and the youth, who were often used as a weapon to stoke up violence, have taken the initiative and set up groups on Facebook and other social networking sites urging people to vote peacefully. Kenyans are waking up to the fact that they have to empower ourselves to move on from past behaviours.”