Let’s implement Constitution first, CIC's Charles Nyachae pleads

Migori County: Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) Chairman Charles Nyachae has dismissed the Opposition’s calls for a referendum.

Speaking in Migori County, Saturday, at Kanyawanga Boys High School during a prize giving ceremony, Mr Nyachae, who was with Information Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, Nyaribari Chache MP Richard Tong’i and his Rongo counterpart Dalmas Otieno, said the Opposition was hastily trying to change the Constitution, a factor they warned could push the country into a dangerous situation.

He said Kenya does not need a referendum at this time. “We are in danger as a country because what is being portrayed by those calling for the referendum is that the constitutional system has failed, which is not the case. We must first implement the Constitution and afterwards see where things are turning bad and then seek amendments, but not right now,” he said.

He said the Constitution has proper provisions on systems, institutions and processes that must be used to solve various issues the Opposition wants addressed.

Mr Matiang’i said leaders should stop engaging each other in redresses, a factor he said won't help the country move forward. “Squabbling and disagreeing all the time and constant war of words cannot change anyone’s life to any better. Instead, it will affect all citizens adversely,” he said.

In what seemed like an attack on CORD leader Raila Odinga over his perceived long stay in politics, Mr Tong’i said such politicians were becoming irrelevant in the political arena since they were sticking with the old ways of doing things.

Otieno said the Opposition was not fully informed about the proposed referendum and advised against rushing ideas. “The truth is my party says it wants a referendum and I agree. But possibly it will never be the way they want it to be. I maintain that it will happen but not now, and not in the way they want it to be done,” he insisted.

He said the referendum heat may easily push the country into chaos, warning that this could be very costly to the country’s peace and development. “I am an applied economist and I can tell you this, if we go to the referendum polarised as we are, it will not produce results,” he said.