Kenyan opposition stages rally
2005-11-26 19:47
Nairobi - Kenyan opposition groups staged a mass rally here on Saturday to celebrate the rejection of a new constitution they opposed and renew demands for President Mwai Kibaki to call snap elections.
About 10 000 people crowded into Nairobi's Uhuru Park for the raucous demonstration, noisily congratulating themselves for the overwhelming vote in Monday's referendum to reject the charter that Kibaki had backed.
The president has fired his entire cabinet, which was deeply split on the constitution, and suspended the re-opening of parliament but opposition leaders said the steps were not enough and repeated demands for new polls.
"Parliament has been grievously wounded and discredited by the overwhelming rejection of the draft," Uhuru Kenyatta, head of the opposition Kenya African National Union (Kanu), told the cheering crowd.
"The president must dissolve it to pave way for the people of Kenya to elect representatives with a new mandate," said Kenyatta, the son of Kenya's revered founding president Jomo Kenyatta.
Kenyatta, who lost 2002 elections to Kibaki, and members of Kibaki's ruling coalition vehemently opposed the new constitution, which would have been the first major overhaul to the country's independence charter.
They had called for rejection of the draft as it retained nearly absolute powers in the presidency, defying popular calls for significant authority to be devolved to a prime minister.
The rejection of the referendum by nearly 60% of voters was seen as a no-confidence vote in Kibaki who swept to power on a reform platform but has been criticised since for lacklustre performance.
Kibaki has moved to re-assert his authority by firing the cabinet en masse and indefinitely postponing parliament's next session but has refused to dissolve the legislature completely and call fresh elections.