Sections
Archive
| Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | ||
Newsletter
Did you enjoy this article?
Federation of Kenya Women Lawyers (Fida), Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organisation (MYWO) and 21 other women groups have decided to cast their lot with those who make Kenya such a horrible place for majority poor Kenyans.
In their presentation to the Kiplagat Committee on Constitutional reform, the organisations say the review of the constitution should be put on hold and only undertaken after the 2007 General Election.
They argue that a new government would repeal Section 47 and other sections that impede the review process and hasten hearing and determination of all pending court cases.
First of all, it is not the government’s role to repeal Section 47, or any other law for that matter. This role belongs to Parliament. So why can’t the present Parliament, repeal section 47? What makes Fida-Kenya so sure that the next government will repeal the section, or even be bothered with constitutional reform?
In the same entourage was MYWO, who suggested "a panel of experts be included in the review process to study and resolve issues considered contentious in the Bomas and Wako drafts, then subject the revised constitutions to a referendum."
We believe that wananchi should be the ones to determine the contentious issues. The CCR road map outlines a very simple process based on the principles of action-research, to highlight any contentions by the end of September 2006.
The position by Coalition for Constitutional Reform (CCR) is that the referendum should never have been a blanket Yes/No vote on the entire draft, but only on the contentious issues. The civic education process should therefore enable citizens to raise any contentious issues they might have. Once these views are collated by November 1, 2006, a trend will emerge showing which issues are raising the most contention.
Those issues will constitute the questions in the final national referendum on November 22, 2006, and the people should vote specifically on them. The final draft should be taken to Parliament, and passed without debate by December 10, 2006.
How could civil society organisations like Fida-Kenya and MYWO urge for postponement of constitutional reform and advocate for the creation of a multi-sectoral form? If the Kiplagat Committee is not a such forum, then what is?
Tego Obanda
For CCR
http://www.eastandard.net/archives/cl/hm_news/news_s.php?articleid=1143951891&date=3/05/2006
---
Related News:
Comments (0 posted)
