_WORLD WATCH______________________________
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Government endangers reform
President thwarts efforts by religious team
Archbishop Raphael Ndingi Mwana’a Nzeki of Nairobi, the leading figure in the Kenyan Catholic Church, has warned that the government is jeopardizing the process of constitutional reform by excluding religious representatives from the process.
Kenya’s efforts to rewrite the national constitution have been deadlocked for more than two years, as a team of 12 people appointed by parliament has been unable to complete a review of competing proposals. In an effort to break that deadlock and achieve real reforms, the leaders of Kenya’s Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, and Hindu communities formed their own “faith-based” review panel.
But President Daniel Arap Moi has announced that the government will not cooperate with the faith-based review team, nor would the parliamentary review group merge with the faith-based committee. President Arap Moi charged that the faith-based committee is an amorphous group with no political credentials. He called the members of that panel outsiders, self-seekers, and even traitors who could not be trusted. Only the parliamentary team—appointed through the influence of Arap Moi’s government—has a mandate to review the nation’s constitution, he said.
But Archbishop Ndingi Mwana’a Nzeki countered that the religious representatives were selected through a free and open process, not (as the President had charged) by tribal selection, nor by political favoritism. The archbishop also pointed out that the religious panel did not include any clergymen, because the ministers were fully committed in the service to their congregations rather than to political involvement. And a delegation of US bishops, visiting Africa on a fact-finding mission, urged Arap Moi to recognize the legitimacy of the faith-based group.
The Nairobi archbishop said that the religious representatives would continue their work, regardless of the government’s opposition. “In fact I don’t think the comment from the president will discourage us in the process,” Archbishop Ndingi Mwana’a Nzeki said. “On the contrary they will encourage us.” The archbishop added that from the outset, the entry of the faith-based representatives into the review process had been criticized and even condemned by the government, but they had continued to work toward their original goal.