Commentary by Martyn Drakard in East Africa
NAIROBI, Kenya, August 13, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - August is sometimes welcomed rather coolly in parts of Kenya, especially the capital, Nairobi. Besides being the coldest time of year, it's the month of big events: an attempted coup in 1982; the US embassy bomb blast in 1998. But perhaps bleakest of all, at least in the minds of a substantial minority of Kenyans who truly love their country, has been the passing into law of the new constitution.
Kenya, they feel, has lost its innocence; on August 4th 2010 its eyes were opened, like Adam's and Eve's.
Since the early 1960's, Kenya, formerly a British colony, was guided by a constitution drawn up as part of the preparation for Independence, and after several years of insurgency mainly over the issue of land and racial discrimination. It gave wide, sweeping powers to the president and the security forces; the Bill of Rights was very basic but did outlaw abortion, for example, except if the mother's life was seriously threatened.
The new document has many advantages over the previous one: it allows for devolution of government and funds; presidential powers have been trimmed; powers of detention and arbitrary arrest have been removed; land distribution will be more orderly and controlled; affirmative action will favour women in public and private life; total freedom of expression and of the media, except for hate speech; the chance of dual citizenship for Kenyans in the diaspora; the right to move within and outside Kenya; fair labour practices and the right to strike. Naturally Kenyans will feel this is a new spring.
Two-thirds of the electorate that turned out voted for the new document. Perhaps this is not too surprising since the media were shouting loud and whole-heartedly for it, and often with bad manners; the government did widespread propaganda and spent public and donor funds on explaining why voters should say Yes; few voters had the chance to study all the points, even fewer have explained to them how certain points, especially but not only in the Bill of Rights, could be manipulated in future to serve an anti-family and anti-marriage agenda.
Many ended up by being persuaded that after 50 years of struggle for their own constitution, they should not waste more time and public funds drafting yet another one – besides it's always possible to polish up any contentious points once the document is approved; for that's what the government has promised. To make a popular amendment, however, is a veritable obstacle course, expensive, time-consuming and subject to many difficult conditions; but most voters were not aware of that.
Another argument was that this new constitution is the one that will bring all Kenyans together, and prevent further bloodshed; and that this new era of peace is bound to happen since this is a people's constitution, voted for by the people. So, let everyone join hands, forget the differences, work together and let bygones be truly gone.
But perhaps something more subtle has crept in after months of referendum debate. A banner headline in one of today's (12th August) dailies suggests it: “Church leaders lose face with Kenyans” and this is one of a series of clerical onslaughts. Today's headline is the result of an opinion poll, in which the credibility of the Church and its leaders was compared, unfavourably, with even that of politicians.
In the past weeks, the Church has been accused by the media of being intolerant, interfering in politics, authoritarian, spreading lies and controlling the consciences of the faithful who, in their turn, have been challenged to think for themselves and not be swayed by clerical pronouncements.
Christians are the new “bad guys”. According to our media they live in the past; are hypocrites (pedophilia cover-ups, etc); and don't know how to lose like good sportsmen since they have vowed to continue the battle against abortion, and other kinds of “marriage”, for starters.
Ironically, the vast majority of Kenyans don't realize they have let in through the back door two things they are dead set against -abortion and “gay” rights, as well as being gradually turned against their religious leaders.
Is the chilly wind of Western secularism finding its way into Africa through the cracks of one of the continent's most forward-looking, developed, respected and stable democracies?