Kenya's opposition defiant

2005-11-28 14:27

Nairobi - Kenya's opposition vowed on Monday to defy a government ban on demonstrations and keep up demands for President Mwai Kibaki to call new elections after last week's rejection of a new constitution he backed.

Leaders of the Orange Democratic Movement said the ban was illegal and they wouldn't halt protests to press Kibaki to hold snap polls in the wake of the defeat of the charter in a November 21 referendum.

The group's spokesperson Willim Ruto said: "Our rallies will go on. You can't prevent people from assembling. This is a government in panic and it wants to run away from the people.

"What the government should be doing is to establish channels of consulting Orange leaders."

Fresh elections

Vice-president Moody Awori announced the imposition of the ban late on Sunday, rejecting opposition calls for fresh elections made at a mass rally in the capital a day earlier.

Awori denied the referendum defeat of the new constitution had been a "no confidence" vote in Kibaki and the government, said snap polls were not necessary and that rallies to demand them were a national security threat.

Opposition MP Mutula Kilonzo said Kibaki and Awori had no legal basis to ban the rallies and noted that the constitution had been soundly voted down in the vice-president's own constituency.

Re-opening of parliament

Kilonzo said: "The vice-president has no mandate under the law to issue such a ban. After all, he was defeated during the referendum in his constituency."

Analysts had said the nearly 60% "no" vote was an expression of disapproval with the lacklustre performance of Kibaki's administration, which came to power three years ago on a reform platform.

The president fired his entire cabinet and postponed this week's scheduled re-opening of parliament in a bid to re-assert political authority after the defeat, but he had refused to dissolve the legislature and called new elections that could lead to his ouster.

- AFP