Delaying the constitution is selfish. Church leaders must understand that by now. (API)

Church split on Proposed Constitution

By Standard Team

Churches were on Sunday at a crossroad as they gave divergent views on how to approach the debate on the Proposed Constitution ahead of the referendum.

Catholics stuck to their position of ‘No’ to the Proposed Constitution while other mainstream denominations remained cautious saying they will conduct civic education among their flock before taking a stand.

In his Easter Sunday Mass at the Holy family Basilica on Sunday, John Cardinal Njue insisted the Catholic Church was opposed to the Proposed Constitution due to retention of Kadhi’s Courts and abortion clauses.

Head of Catholic Church in Kenya, John Cardinal Njue insisted they would not retract their rejection of Kadhis Courts in the new law as well as provisions in the Bill of Rights.

“There is definitely something wrong with the document and anyone who watched parliamentary proceedings will agree with me that our MPs let the country down,” the cardinal told faithful at Holy Family Basilica.

Cardinal Njue did not say which step the Church would take but was optimistic that “something would be done” before the Proposed Constitution reaches the referendum stage.

“The Catholic Church has not changed and will not change its stand regarding this document. We only hope a certain solution would be found before it is too late,” he said.

And speaking at All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi on Sunday, Anglican Church in Kenya Head, Archbishop Eliud Wabukala warned: “It is naive to assume that because the document has been passed by Parliament Kenyans will endorse it.”

He said: “All our (ACK) bishops are taking the debate to the grassroots this month. At the end of it they will be back with their findings, after which the church will give its directive.”

The archbishop urged Kenyans not get carried away by the debate.

“We appeal to the people to carry the debate but not in a manner that may cause complications, like in 2007,” the archbishop pleaded.

He added, “We have opened the debate and we allow (congregations) to participate.”

He said the church expects its bishops to find out what its followers want, or don’t want, and announce a united stand.

Leading flock astray

But Chief Kadhi Sheikh Hammad Kassim called on sections of church leaders to stop misleading Kenyans on the constitution.

Hammad said some of the clerics have been misquoting the Proposed Constitution thereby misleading their followers to vote against it.

He cited the abortion clause, which he said had been misinterpreted by church leaders.

Sheikh Hammad said he had read the Proposed Constitution and understood that abortion had not been legalised, contrary to claims by other church leaders.

“These people are poisoning the Proposed Constitution, misleading Kenyans that the draft constitution has okayed abortion. That’s not true, abortion is not legalised in the draft. Let them read it once more,” he opined.

Elsewhere, Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) East African Union President, Paul Muasya said the church’s leadership would soon make its general stand on the constitution known but said the church still supports inclusion of the contentious Kadhi’s Courts in the draft.

Muasya said the SDA‘s stand on abortion has been clear and is in line with the proposal by the Committee of Experts, which only allows the act on medical grounds, when the mother and foetus are in danger.

“Our position on Kadhi’s courts and abortion has not changed… we appreciate that our members have different opinions on the draft and we will not direct them on how to vote but we will state our general stand, which is likely to influence their opinion,” argued Muasya.

Clerics in the North Rift region vowed to mobilise Christians to shoot down the draft constitution in the referendum.

Speaking separately, they said it would be difficult for voters across the country to endorse the document during the plebiscite due to the glaring contentious issues.

Bishop Cornelius Korir of the Eldoret Catholic Diocese, Bishop Stephen Kewasis of the ACK Kitale Diocese, Bishop Patrice Chumba of AIC North Rift region and the Reverend Geoffrey Songok of Reformed Churches of Kenya were among those who expressed their views.

“MPs erred in passing the draft without amending the contentious clauses as expected by the public,” Songok said.

Bishop Korir said: “We shall meet to discuss the matter but I wish to point out early enough that the draft, as it is, has glaring contentious clauses which should have been corrected before the document is subjected to a referendum,”

Korir cited issues on land, Kadhi’s Courts and abortion as those majority of the people wanted to be looked at afresh in the document.

Kewasis said it was unfortunate that the MPs had failed to heed calls from the clergy and issues pertaining to abortion and Kadhi’s courts and passing the draft as it was.

“During the process of drafting the Proposed Constitution, we did not miss an opportunity to point out the controversial issues which would divide the people but seemingly, MPs have not been listening,” Kewasis said.

Squarely responsible

But Former PCEA church leader Rev Timothy Njoya asked mainstream churches to abandon their crusade against the Proposed Constitution.

Njoya warned the churches they will never be forgiven if they succeed in denying Kenyans a new constitution.

Njoya, famed for his crusade against single party rule as he pushed for introduction of multiparty democracy, said the Church will be left on its own as Kenyans’ determination to get a new constitution will not be swayed by their campaign.

But at the All Saints’ Cathedral, Nairobi, Archbishop Eliud Wabukala said the Anglican Church would make its stand known after conducting debates at the grassroots. Photos: Tabitha Otwori and Jonah Onyango/Standard

The retired clergyman cautioned that Kenyans will hold the church squarely responsible if political related chaos were to erupt in the future as a result of lack of a sound constitution.

And religious leaders from Western faulted MPs for ignoring contentious issues raised by the public during the passing of the draft constitution in Parliament.

“MPs have failed in their duties as they did not harmonise any issue during their retreat,” said Bishop Ben Salala of the Anglican Church of Kenya.

Salala and bishops Simon Oketch, Nicholas Olumasai, Titus Khamala and Chris Mwenesi said they were still reading the draft with a view of making their decisions independently.

“We were accused of failing to give direction during the rejected Wako Draft. This time we shall not watch as things go wrong,” said Salala.

mobilise faithful

In Nakuru, Reverend Josam Kariuki the Chairman of the Rift Valley Interdenominational Churches Council said that they would mobilise their faithful to reject the Proposed Constitution during the referendum.

“As along as the clause on abortion and the Kadhi’s Courts are in, there is no way we are going to vote for that constitution,” said Kariuki.

The chairperson of Nakuru Pastors Fellowship Pastor Charles Marita, however, said though it was unfortunate the contentious clauses had not been —Reports by Peter Orengo, Phares Mutembei, Ramadhan Rajab, Linah Benyawa, Vitalis Kimutai, Beuttah Omanga, Joel Okwayo and Beatrice Obwocha

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Photo: MAG/Sean Sutton

Angolan Candre Antonio, 13, stood on a landmine outside his house that his father had planted for the family’s safety (file photo)

DUBAI,  – Landmines and the explosive remnants of war kill or injure 15,000-20,000 people a year in at least 78 countries, according to the UN Mine Action Centre. While several international agreements exist to regulate or ban landmines, most notably the Mine Ban Treaty in 1999, momentum is gathering to do more to minimise these effects of armed conflict for humanitarian reasons.

• See IRIN’s in-depth series on landmines

To this effect, on 8 December 2005 the UN General Assembly agreed to establish an International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action to be observed every 4 April.

“Landmines and explosive remnants of war continue to inflict a terrible toll. These indiscriminate weapons cause grievous injuries and death, hamper reconstruction in post-conflict zones, damage the environment, and are an obstacle to socioeconomic and development activities long after conflicts have ended,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message for this year’s mine awareness day.

The Mine Action Centre defines “explosive remnants of war” as unexploded ordnance (UXO) and abandonded ordnance, such as weapons left behind by an armed group. It says UXO comprises “bombs, mortars, grenades, missiles or other devices that fail to detonate on impact but remain volatile and can kill if touched or moved. Some of the main sources of UXO are cluster bombs.”

IRIN has reported extensively on the impact of landmines and UXO and last month released an in-depth series of articles and multimedia on the issue.

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Photo: IRIN

Iraq’s health system needs years of attention

BAGHDAD,  – Much more time and effort is needed to improve Iraq’s health system and institutions, which have been battered by decades of conflict, underinvestment and neglect, the country’s top health official said on 3 April.

“Our health facilities have not seen any development for 35 years. The last health facility built in the provinces was during the 1970s, and in Baghdad was in 1984-85,” Iraqi Health Minister Salih al-Hasnawi told IRIN, adding that these facilities had not seen any development since then.

At a health workshop organized by the US-based NGO International Medical Corps (IMC), the minister said “the process of developing them to reach international standards is a long and complicated one”.

The two-day workshop was part of IMC’s initiative to assist Iraqi government officials providing health care at the local, regional and national level.

“I think it will be an effort to move [health] facilities forward, but this is why we’re here to help the [health] ministry and Iraqi people and it may take months or years,” Gerald Evans, director of IMC’s health program in Iraq, told IRIN. “It’s a neverending process. I would not say that we have a benchmark approach, I say that we have a process started and that’s a success for us.”

According to the World Bank’s World Development Indicators 2009, life expectancy in Iraq was 65 in 1990, up to 71 by 1996, but down to 67 in 2007.

Impact of war

The 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq to topple former president Saddam Hussein was a big setback for the country’s health infrastructure, experts say.

“The war’s impact on the nation’s medical infrastructure can be seen in the trend in vaccinations against key diseases, which is a good indicator of preventive health care provisions,” Steven Levingstone, a guest blogger with the Washington Post, wrote in a blog on 30 March, quoting from the book War and the Health of Nations by Zaryab Iqbal, an assistant professor of political science at Pennsylvania State University.

He noted that immunization levels against polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus and measles had all fallen 10-20 percent between 1999 and 2005. “This trend of reduced immunization rates could lead to serious repercussions for the population’s health and the prevalence of disease in the future,” Levingstone wrote.

Al-Hasnawi said the government was working to modernize the country’s health facilities, draw up a list of medicines to be made available countrywide and facilitate health workers’ access to training courses abroad.

“Our health system is not too far now from the region’s other countries, especially after signing contracts last year to modernize health facilities with new equipment, including cancer-related ones, and make available all the medicines we need,” he said.

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