KENYA: Cheered by hundreds of thousands of jubilant Kenyans waving national flags, President Mwai Kibaki signs a new constitution

Record ID: 360871

  • Title: KENYA: Cheered by hundreds of thousands of jubilant Kenyans waving national flags, President Mwai Kibaki signs a new constitution
  • Date: 28th August 2010
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF MILITARY PARADE VARIOUS OF MILITARY MARCHING WITH TANKS VARIOUS OF 21 GUNS SALUTE
  • Embargoed: 12th September 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA911RFZBRH0W3JFQEC9MAD1M0S
  • Story Text: Hundreds of thousands of Kenyans thronged Nairobi's biggest park to usher in a new constitution on Friday (August 27) as President Mwai Kibaki signed a new basic law that curbs his sweeping powers and strengthens civic rights.
    In a ceremony full of military pomp and traditional dance, jubilant Kenyans packed Nairobi's Uhuru Park -- or Freedom Park -- cheering and waving national flags as their leaders took fresh oaths under the first overhaul of the charter since 1963.
    Sudan's President Omar Hassan al Bashir defied his own International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for charges of genocide in Darfur to attend the Kenyan festivities, irking human rights groups who demand his arrest. Bashir denies the charges.
    Before penning his name to the new constitution, Kibaki greeted Bashir and other regional heads of state who later all released white doves.
    Nearly 70 percent of Kenyans that voted in the August 4 referendum endorsed the new supreme law, hoping for a fresh start from Kenya's checkered history.
    Kibaki took the oath of office followed by the prime minister, Raila Odinga.
    "I have today, as president of this great republic, appended my signature on Kenya's new constitution, as an affirmation of the endorsement of the basic law of the land," the Kenyan president said.
    The new legal framework addresses issues like corruption, political patronage, land grabbing and tribalism, which have plagued the country for decades.
    Kenyans started demanding a new constitution about two decades ago, saying the basic law penned at the time of independence from Britain promoted oppression and exclusion.
    East Africa's largest economy endorsed the document in a peaceful referendum earlier this month, as one of the reforms agreed upon to end months of murderous violence that erupted following a disputed presidential election at the end of 2007.
    "The fourth of August will go down in history as the date on which we, the people of Kenya, formed a more united nation and established the groundwork for justice, unity and the full blessings of liberty for ourselves and for posterity. No one could have thought that out of the bitter harvest of the disputed elections and the violence that pitted our people against each other just two years ago, we would be witnessing today the birth of a national unity that has eluded us for more than 40 years," Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga said.
    Some 1,300 Kenyans were killed in that violence and over 300,000 others fled their homes fearing for their lives. The ICC is due to issue arrest warrants for top Kenyan leaders who were culpable.
    Government will now set up an implementation commission, which will oversee the enactment of the new constitution in parliament.
    The new document paves the way for new counties, which will enjoy some autonomy and a share of the national budget, aimed at encouraging development in rural Kenya, where a majority of people live a subsistence lifestyle.
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