Kenyan ministers up for treason
2005-11-01 21:31
Nairobi - Two Kenyan cabinet ministers may be charged with treason for remarks suggesting the east African nation risks a coup if voters approved a proposed new constitution, says a senior government official on Tuesday.
The official said police were collecting evidence against the pair, roads minister Raila Odinga and environment minister Kalonzo Musyoka, who had warned of a possible coup if the draft charter was passed in a November 21 referendum.
The official said: "We are gathering evidence. We don't want to take people to court and then have them bailed out because we don't have enough evidence."
"Time is on our side, there is no timeframe on treason charges."
The comments came amid rising fears of widespread unrest in the bitterly contested referendum campaign that sparked deadly weekend violence after opponents of the new constitution clashed with police in western Kenya.
51 plead not guilty
At least four people were shot dead in the town of Kisumu on the shores of Lake Victoria on Saturday as police battled rioters attempting to stop a rally by ministers who supported the draft.
Police on Monday charged 51 people in connection with the Kisumu unrest, the first violent incident in the campaign to have claimed lives. All pleaded not guilty.
Scores of people had been wounded in referendum-related clashes during the increasingly violent run-up to the referendum, which had split President Mwai Kibaki's government.
Odinga and Musyoka opposed the draft because it retained near absolute powers in the office of the president, despite popular demands for significant authority to be devolved to a prime minister and was almost impossible to amend.
Last week, they said the charter's rigidity could leave Kenya, which had been regarded as an island of relative stability in volatile east Africa, open to military coups, the remarks for which they were being probed.