President Mwai Kibaki (second left) and Mr Raila Odinga (second right) with mediator Kofi Annan (centre), Ms Graca Machel and Mr Benjamin Mkapa after they held talks at Harambee House, Nairobi, on February 8, 2008.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
Written By Rose Kamau
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation
Posted: Thu, Aug 05, 2010
The No team has conceded defeat after the Interim Independent Electoral Commission's latest results showed the Yes team leading by 5 363 178 against the No's 2 375 855.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, the No's de facto leader, higher education minister William Ruto said there was need to hold consultations to address the contentious issues that made a big number of Kenyans abstain or vote against the document.
Ruto said there was need for a document that unifies Kenyans and to put structures in place for Kenya to move forward together as a country.
"This is not a time to whine, this is not a time to look back but a time to get the country united so as to move forward," said Ruto.
5 August 2010
Last updated at 07:20 ET
'No' voters admit defeat in Kenya referendum
There are hopes that the new constitution will help to create a national consensus
Leaders of the campaign to vote against a new constitution in Kenya have conceded victory in a referendum.
Preliminary results show almost 70% of voters have backed the changes, which will severely curtail the powers of the president.
Voting appears to have passed off peacefully, with none of the violence that marred December 2007's election.
The referendum was part of a deal to bring that conflict to an end. More than 1,000 people died in the clashes.
The new constitution gives citizens a new bill of rights and paves the way for land reform.
"(The) majority had their way, we had our say," said William Ruto, Kenya's higher education minister and a leader of the "No" campaign, as he admitted defeat.
"We are now proposing immediate consultations."
With most of the ballots counted, more than four million voters were in favour of the new charter. Around 2.1 million had rejected the reforms.
However, the BBC's Peter Greste in Kenya says that there has been a strong "No" vote in the Rift Valley province, which saw the worst of the post-election violence in 2007 and 2008.
He says the result in this province is a blow to the idea that the new constitution could help to create a national consensus.
Mr Ruto, who has ambitions to run for president in the 2012 elections, had opposed clauses about abortion and land reform.
Those in favour of the document say that for the first time it introduces a sensible approach to land reform by stating that land acquired illegally can be repossessed.
Supporters of the new constitution include both the president and prime minister, who stood against each other in 2007.
'New dawn'
No major incidents were reported at the more than 27,600 polling stations across the country, where on Wednesday many people had queued since sunrise to cast their votes.
The Standard newspaper said the peaceful voting process marked "a new dawn" for Kenya.
"The traditional mayhem that has preceded and accompanied successive general elections was a distant memory buried by the orderly queues yesterday," the paper commented.
The Daily Nation paper urged supporters of the "No" camp to accept their defeat.
The BBC's Peter Greste says Kenyans now face an intensive legislative process to implement the reforms approved by the referendum.
1 comment:
Center for Reproductive Rights
www.reproductiverights.org
========================
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 6, 2010
Center Applauds Passage of New Kenyan Constitution
A Landmark Development for Women’s Rights
New York—Yesterday, election officials in Kenya announced that voters overwhelmingly approved a new constitution, which in addition to increasing civil liberties and enshrining key economic and social rights, promotes women’s equality and rights, including reproductive rights. The constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of, among others, sex, pregnancy, and marital status and affirms the right to equal treatment for men and women and “equal opportunities in political, economic, cultural, and social spheres.” It also establishes equal rights for men and women in marriage and highlights the obligation of both parents to care and provide for a child, regardless of the parents’ marital status.
In terms of reproductive health, every person has the right to the highest attainable standard of health, including the right to health services and reproductive healthcare. The new constitution also clarifies the confusing patchwork of law, policies, and regulations on abortion by spelling out that women are able to terminate a pregnancy when it threatens their life or health. Although the previous legal regime permitted abortion to save the pregnant woman’s life, the language was not clearly defined and women and doctors risked imprisonment. Elisa Slattery, regional manager and legal adviser for Africa at the Center for Reproductive Rights had this response:
“The new constitution remedies what has been a lethal lack of clarity on the abortion law. It is a crucial step in ending the needless suffering and death of women in Kenya from unsafe abortion.
Our research < http://reproductiverights.org/en/feature/in-harm%E2%80%99s-way-the-impact-of-kenya%E2%80%99s-restrictive-abortion-law> has shown that women in Kenya will seek out abortion regardless of the law in order to protect their health, families and livelihood. Kenya’s law on abortion has been corrosive – severely undermining the quality of care women receive when it’s legal or forcing tens of thousands to resort to unsafe and clandestine means to end their pregnancies.
“Kenyan women turn to painful and crude ways to end their pregnancies, ingesting bleach, detergent, or other dangerous liquids, inserting sharp objects or seeking out untrained ‘quacks’ for care. Every year, tens of thousands die or suffer debilitating damage to their health.
“Now that there is the promise of safeguarding women’s lives and health, it is incumbent upon the Kenyan government to take definitive action to end the scourge of unsafe abortion.”
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