Post by Onyango Oloo on Oct 7, 2005 20:29:05 GMT 3
Kenya rebuffs donors over call for peaceful campaign
Thu 6 Oct 2005 12:46 PM ET
NAIROBI, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Kenya on Thursday criticised international donors for calling for an end to violence ahead of a Nov. 21 constitutional referendum and said they had no right to treat the country like a child.
"Just because you are giving us aid does not mean you can be dictating to us how to run our internal affairs," government spokesman
Alfred Mutua said in a briefing for reporters.
"We are not children, so that you start telling us how to put on our shorts."
He was reacting to a statement issued last week by the ambassadors of 25 countries that called for a transparent and peaceful process "not marred by violence or its incitement, physical intimidation or financial manipulation".
The nations including ex-colonial ruler Britain, other European nations, the United States, Canada and Japan provide millions of dollars in relief and development aid every year.
While the envoys had a right to give their views, they needed to be appropriate in expressing them, Mutua said.
"That's what we have come out clearly and said: yes you (envoys) may have your concerns, but channel them through the normal diplomatic missions," Mutua said.
President Mwai Kibaki's government is leading the "Yes" campaign while the opposition and a party in the ruling coalition are championing the "No" cause.
It would be the first complete overhaul since a charter was drawn up on the eve of independence of the east African nation in 1963. Critics say the constitution fails to curb Kibaki's immense powers and is a betrayal of Kibaki's pledge to include broad input from Kenyans and not just politicians.
So far, "Yes" and "No" campaigns have been marred by scuffles, with crowds fighting with sticks, stones and chairs at several rallies, and some people arrested while attempting to unleash to hives of bees into a crowd at one rally.
Kenya's police commissioner last month appealed to politicians not to incite violence.
Police meanwhile raided a house in a suburb of Nairobi and arrested members of a banned sect suspected of taking oaths to cause chaos in the referendum campaign.
Police spokesman Jaspher Ombati said residents of Kitengela suburb, south of Nairobi, alerted the police that a large number of youths were being ferried into a house where they suspected members of the shadowy Mungiki organisation were gathering.
Mungiki, "multitude" in the language of the Kikuyu, Kenya's largest tribe, groups thousands of unemployed male youths, many of them former street children. It was banned in March 2002 after police blamed it for a spate of knife and spear killings.
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
Thu 6 Oct 2005 12:46 PM ET
NAIROBI, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Kenya on Thursday criticised international donors for calling for an end to violence ahead of a Nov. 21 constitutional referendum and said they had no right to treat the country like a child.
"Just because you are giving us aid does not mean you can be dictating to us how to run our internal affairs," government spokesman
Alfred Mutua said in a briefing for reporters.
"We are not children, so that you start telling us how to put on our shorts."
He was reacting to a statement issued last week by the ambassadors of 25 countries that called for a transparent and peaceful process "not marred by violence or its incitement, physical intimidation or financial manipulation".
The nations including ex-colonial ruler Britain, other European nations, the United States, Canada and Japan provide millions of dollars in relief and development aid every year.
While the envoys had a right to give their views, they needed to be appropriate in expressing them, Mutua said.
"That's what we have come out clearly and said: yes you (envoys) may have your concerns, but channel them through the normal diplomatic missions," Mutua said.
President Mwai Kibaki's government is leading the "Yes" campaign while the opposition and a party in the ruling coalition are championing the "No" cause.
It would be the first complete overhaul since a charter was drawn up on the eve of independence of the east African nation in 1963. Critics say the constitution fails to curb Kibaki's immense powers and is a betrayal of Kibaki's pledge to include broad input from Kenyans and not just politicians.
So far, "Yes" and "No" campaigns have been marred by scuffles, with crowds fighting with sticks, stones and chairs at several rallies, and some people arrested while attempting to unleash to hives of bees into a crowd at one rally.
Kenya's police commissioner last month appealed to politicians not to incite violence.
Police meanwhile raided a house in a suburb of Nairobi and arrested members of a banned sect suspected of taking oaths to cause chaos in the referendum campaign.
Police spokesman Jaspher Ombati said residents of Kitengela suburb, south of Nairobi, alerted the police that a large number of youths were being ferried into a house where they suspected members of the shadowy Mungiki organisation were gathering.
Mungiki, "multitude" in the language of the Kikuyu, Kenya's largest tribe, groups thousands of unemployed male youths, many of them former street children. It was banned in March 2002 after police blamed it for a spate of knife and spear killings.
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.