CHRISTIANS CAN READ AND DECIDE ON THEIR OWN

‘Give yee unto Ceaser what belongs to him, and give unto God what belongs to God’s Kingdom’ Adopted from the Holy Bible.

This Biblical phrase summarizes the dilemma that Christians in Kenya face on the constitutional review process. To vote ‘NO’as the clergy keep exhorting them to do, from the pulpit, from the media houses, from crusades and from prayer rallies, or to vote ‘YES’ as the political leaders keep requesting them to do. The Government has given the Draft Constitution a thumbs up, and will be going out of its way to ensure that it is passed, while the clergy is readying for a long and winding battle against the same.

This is historic, and not the only time the church and state in Kenya have been on either side of the boxing ring! We only hope that this particular duel will not result in an unhealthy paralysis, especially as Kenya seeks to rise from the ignominy of the 2007 post Election Crisis. But duel, they must. Unfortunately, the rules of the duel are not yet set and the State is likely to have its way, anyway!

The Church is adamant, that the principles of a ‘Godly’ State and an upright moral society need to be protected at all costs. That society has to listen to God’s words, or else the consequences will be dire. Last Sunday in my local Church, I watched helpless as the preacher used the allegory of Sodom and Gomorah as he prophesied about Kenya’s future, especially if the Constitution would pass as it is. We just watched, some amazed, some shocked but others clearly disgusted. Some just shook their heads in disbelief! The Church just wont let go, and they could as well sway a significant number of believers to vote NO, either way!


On its part, the State is defiant. In fact, the State is boisterous. It has a timetable drawn only by blood, it has a time bomb its trying to desperately defuse, since the clock to 2012 keeps ticking away. The Government has to ensure a new constitutional dispensation before the next general elections. The quest for reforms, a major yardstick of its commitment to bequeath unto Kenya a fresh nation, devoid of injustices, impunity, poverty, corruption, landlessness and other ills that have continued to plaque the country, lies stoically on promulgating a new constitutional dispensation. On this particular issue, the Government smells a victory, and it’s really a deserved one. But the church just won’t bulge.

We the Christians just watch helplessly, a monotonous game of oratorical garbs are traded, from church to state, state to church, no let up, no reprieve, no consensus, no dialogue, no agreements just a promise of a long three or so months. But, NO, we are not helpless. We can be part of reason. We can rise up and decide to respect the State and the Church, but we can as Christians, choose the only path that can guarantee our future a sustainable livelihood. We can let logic drive our thought processes, and we can reason to choose the lesser devil. Abortion, Kadhis courts, land issues, and any other new discoveries within the Draft Constitution may not make sense now, but we can chose to make them sensible and sound.

We can decide to discuss these issues and to be tolerant to others opinion, but Christians in Kenya must decide to read the document and make their own conscious decision. The clergy should desist from using the pulpit to campaign against the document, since a large percentage of the people with voters cards can be able to decide on their own. The State need not coerce, nor force, nor fire, nor intimidate, just ensure that Kenyan Christians access the document and understand it fully.

Then and only then will we be able to tell, what belongs to Ceaser or what belongs to God!!!!

Jeff Makeke

CLIMATE CHANGE: THE ROAD TO COPENHAGEN WILL BE ROUGH, ESPECIALLY TO AFRICA

The efforts by Africa to present a common front in the global negotiations towards a post Kyoto mechanism are indeed commendable. For once, we are seeing the Continent hold discussions to harmonize the African position and to ensure that come Copenhagen, the continent will not be left gaping, and watching the discussions like a battery of uninvited spectators at a robotic conference.

Indeed, past negotiations on climate change issues have been conducted in an environment where our African representatives sat passively, perhaps pensively awaiting for the conclusion of the discussions for them to retreat back to their hotel rooms. Some of the delegates have even used this opportunity to actually go on shopping sprees and to meet up with some of their long lost friends in the diaspora. This has been unfortunate for the continent since it has only resulted in Africa receiving only lip service in the final edits of the agreed to texts.

Perhaps another key impediment to Africa participating effectively in these negotiations can be attributed to a weak selection process of the actual negotiators. Indeed, when the negotiating texts are being developed, the Lingua Franca employed by the different negotiators has been completely foreign to the hastily convened teams from some African countries. Many still feel that Africa can do better when forming the country negotiating teams, especially since it’s usually the senior officials in the respective ministries in charge of environment who always end up making the list. They could be well trained in their core duties as Ministry Officials, but completely lack both the important negotiations skills that are adeptly applied during climate negotiations and deep veracity for detail.

This is particularly clear, especially during the discussions on funding mechanism/commitments and which funding would be obligatory or which funds will be left some unspecified bilateral discussions between countries. Hence as the story goes, some of the African delegates are usually left wondering why ‘these grown up people are wasting time debating on why the word ‘would’ needs to be substituted by the word ‘should’? But therein lies the catch word.

The negotiators from USA, Europe, China and other key blocks in the negotiations are well trained experts with a knack for international law, hence can be able to decipher a mile away the real ‘teeth’ and what could be considered as impediments to national interests. Thus they debate avidly, sometimes into the wee hours of the morning as to why particular texts in the document have to be redrafted. Indeed, a call has been made on a number of occasions for Africa to focus on enhancing the capacity of its negotiators and it’s commendable to note that some efforts are being witnessed in this regard. Even the African position recognizes this important fact.

This will prove useful in the forthcoming negotiations, particularly as the world discusses modalities of transitioning to a new mechanism with the Kyoto protocol expected to come to an end in 2012.

Quite significantly, the Kenya Government has also set in motion the process of developing a National Climate Change Response Strategy which will ensure that the country makes informed choices when responding to Climate Change issues. This is an important process, and the Ministry of Environment has to be commended for taking a lead on this. However, even as the continent works on pushing for a common position for the Copenhagen Conference, it’s important for Africa to consider some of the key considerations that will determine the outcomes of Copenhagen deliberations.

The Obama effect. While it has been documented that President Obama has managed to move the USA significantly back to the negotiating table on Climate Change, the African negotiators have to remain clearly informed that the interests of the USA in Copenhagen will be driven by the corporate world and private sector therein. That, even as the Obama Presidency seeks to ensure that the USA commits to some form of targets on the reduction of emissions, this will have to be consistent to the general desire of corporate America to recover from the global financial crisis that the US is just recovering from. Hence, even the financial commitments the USA will agree to will have to respect this fact. On a positive note though, the African group needs to realize that for once they have a strong ally, since many still recall that former President Bush was in the school of thought that tried to obfuscate the climate change debate.

Another key issue that Africa has to be aware of as it pushes its position in Copenhagen is the recent meteoric rise in Chinese economy and its hitherto unseen resolve to influence global policy discourse. It has been established that the Chinese have a way of creating and sustaining partnerships if they want a particular position to hold sway. Hence it’s interesting to note that the Chinese would for instance decide to use the greater and more aggressive Group of 77 which includes a greater number of emergent Asian economies to ensure that any attempts to limit emissions for China is nipped in the bud. Africa, could decide to meet with China halfway and make some gains from such a loose coalition.

There are many other factors including the role of Europe and other Annex 1 countries, the global financial crisis, and the political developments in Britain where Gordon Brown is himself facing a pretty uncertain future. But it’s important for Africa to move as a unit and ensure that the Copenhagen deliberations do not end up just as many other negotiations have. It’s important for the developed world to be committed to a Compensation Fund of sorts for Africa and other vulnerable nations, but this can only be done with tact, and some degree of muscle on the part of Africa. Africa should not allow itself to be divided during the negotiations, as has happened before!!

(This article was published in the East African Standard on Sunday 25th October 2009 and in the Nairobi Star on 25th October 2009)

BY JEFF MAKEKE

AFRICA'S QUEST FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE IS ITS RIGHT!!!!

The Prime Minister Raila Odinga recently voiced his concerns over the decision by the African Group of negotiators who walked out of some of the technical contacts group negotiation sessions held in Barcelona in early November 2009. He felt that the best decision would have been for the negotiators to participate in the negotiations and defend the position of the continent, his maxim being “do not walk out, stay and participate effectively”.

However, the walk out scare by the African group achieved its intended results, since it succeeded in re-asserting the position of Africa and her allies in the whole negotiation process. In addition, it was a pre-emptive measure that was aimed at informing the world at large that Africa will be ready to negotiate as an equal partner in Copenhagen, especially in ensuring that that elusive quest for climate justice is honored in both letter and spirit. This was a just precursor to what might actually unfold during the negotiations set for early December in Copenhagen.

As the globe descends in Netherlands, Copenhagen for what climate and development experts contend to be the “big bang” of climate change discourse in the World, expectations are very high for Africa. The continent will expect the Community of Nations to develop a new mechanism that will not only ensure that the gains recorded during the Kyoto implementation period are not lost, but which will seek to aggressively remove the weaknesses within the Kyoto Protocol.

In addition, the new mechanism will be expected to afford some level of justice to the developing and least developed economies. Already, clear signals are emerging that the Copenhagen meeting may not, after all seal a deal for climate justice particularly for Africa and the vulnerable economies of the world.

Observers are already predicting that the Copenhagen meeting may end up a cropper, only providing a rhetorical political edit which will not clearly spell out the modalities of engagement in the post Kyoto era. This will then push the negotiations to the next Conference of Parties, the COP 16 set for Mexico in 2010, and endless cycle of protracted negotiations reminiscent of the WTO Doha round of negotiations which have since stalled, after a walk out by Africa and her allies. Come Copenhagen, Africa will not shy away from staging another walk out should the developed economies fail to yield ground on some principal issues.

The 1st issue which the developed nations seem intent on subverting in Copenhagen is the issue of setting new emission reduction targets. The Africa Group is working on cobbling together an alliance that will seek to ensure that the developed nations present to the table new significant emission reduction targets, even proposing a 40% reduction of the emissions as at 1990 by the year 2020. The Westernized economies and even China have already shown that they are not willing to accept such and are expected to muzzle this clause.

Another issue which Africa will collectively push in Copenhagen is the need for the immediate establishment of a compensation fund which should be easily accessible to Africa. This meeting will have to deliver a deal on adaptation that provides new, additional, sustainable and predictable finance, as well as technology and capacity building, for a comprehensive international programme on adaptation. Africa contends that financing at the scale of at least 100 billion USD per annum by 2020 is needed for programmes that reduce vulnerability and build resilience of developing countries to impacts that are already occurring and impacts that are expected to occur in the future.

Unlike the current design of the carbon market operational under Kyoto which is regulated by complex international arrangements, Africa envisages a fund that is specifically designed to respond to the challenges of vulnerable communities. Indeed, this is an important issue, since Africa contributes the least amount of the total global emissions, but suffers the worst from the impacts of climate change is a well documented fact. The communities in Budalangi, Kano plains, Tana Delta, Turkana among other areas in Africa are examples of victims who suffer most from the vagaries of ever changing weather patterns resulting from the massive release of carbon into the northern hemisphere by the highly industrialized countries.

On an optimistic note though, it has been reported that over 65 Heads of State and Government have already confirmed their participation in the Copenhagen meeting. However, the signals from the last Working Group meeting held in Barcelona clearly suggest that the Annex 1 countries are still hesitant to give in to some of the basic demands being pushed for by Africa and her strategic allies.

Indeed, Copenhagen will host a powerful cast of global leaders with President Obama, UK PM Gordon Brown, even the Chinese PM Hu Jintao having already confirmed attendance. Africa continues to hope and pray that this high powered participation will unlock some of the pertinent issues that have arisen so far during the technical preparatory working groups. When all is said and done, the developed world has to take full responsibility for the quest towards climate justice. Copenhagen will provide the platform for climate justice. Indeed, this is the least that can be done today, as we seek to bequeath the future generations a world that is better than what we found.

Africa will not expect anything less in Copenhagen!!!!

By Jeff Makeke

WHY I SUPPORT THE KADHIS COURTS IN THE DRAFT CONSTITUTION

The Catholic Church and evangelical leaders in Kenya have come out fighting against the Kadhis Courts as espoused in the Draft Constitution. In their vehement uninformed but loud alterations, they have wasted no opportunity to jump from this media house to the next, repeating the same arguments, the same one sided ‘xenophobic’ statements and not bothering to listen to the other voices in this debate.

In fact, it’s clear now than ever before that they are not about to listen to any one. They either have it their way, or else they sabotage Kenya’s quest for a new constitutional dispensation. But really, are kadhis courts that bad? Are they the Achilles Heels of this Draft Constitution? Are they so dangerous that they can plunge this nation into a state of anarchy as the religious leaders expect us to believe? If they are dangerous, when have we ever had religious violence in Kenya?

I beg to submit that these courts are harmless, and are only enshrined in the constitution to protect the interests and the way of life of the Kenyan human beings who ascribe to the Islamic religion and its resultant way of life. While the Christians or people who profess the Christian religion in Kenya are a large majority, they should not misuse their numbers by constricting the freedoms and livelihoods of the minority, in this case Muslims. Indeed, a society that gives the majority its way, but refuses to protect the rights of the minority is a society on a self destruct mode. Our strength as a nation does not stem from our seamless homogeneity, nay, it stems from our respect for diversity and tolerance for others religions, cultures and way of life.

The Christian leaders claim that the Draft Constitution regards all the religions as equal but goes further to give Kadhis courts more prominence than the other religions. This is just a blatant lie. In truth, a proper and objective context of this assertion can only be found through a rigorous analysis of the concept and background of the constitution in place right now. Indeed, the Constitution as currently structured and even the form of government we now have is a relic of colonial times, inherited stock and barrel from the departing missionary colonial chiefs. Only cosmetic changes were introduced to recognize in passing the customary/traditional laws that our ancestors used to ascribe to.

Hence, it’s important to note that the current constitution is based fully on the principles and values of a Christian way of life. For instance, things like polygamy are frowned upon if they are to be conducted by the state, both in the constitution and in Christianity. But the Islamic Community bases its livelihood on the constitution and some core principles of the Islamic religion, hence in matters to do with civil issues, they ascribe to a law that is in fact repugnant to mainstream Christian churches doctrines and teachings. The constitution has to respect this fact, and protect the minority by providing for courts that can expressly interpret such issues!

Otherwise, it will be a human rights violation to enforce a law based on Christian fundamental beliefs to people who profess the Muslim faith, especially on civil matters. What the Kenyan Christian are trying to do to Muslims in Kenya, is exactly what the Muslims in Sudan have been doing to their Christian counterparts in Sudan.

The Christian leaders’ further claim that if Muslims have their courts, then Christians should also be allowed to have similar courts enshrined in the constitution. But then, is this even feasible? Or is it a reflex reaction based not on any factual objective explanation but motivated by petty jealousy and xenophobic tendencies? Are Christian denominations even organized in their doctrines, or haven’t we witnessed endless confrontations, disagreements, confusion, on all things Christian except their collective love for Jesus Christ? Then what court would fit this scenario, and of what use will it be?

Let Kadhis Courts be, if they are meant to handle civil issues between people who ascribe to that way of life, then so be it. If your religion is and must always be right, then you are the problem, not religion. As religious leaders waste their energies on this debate, the 2012 elections are fast approaching, and Kenya like a derailed train continues hurtling down the hill without a cogent set of reforms to our political systems, electoral processes, judiciary, ad infinitum. Impunity continues to reign supreme, corruption and ethnic balkanization continues unabated. Like a time bomb, the clock ticks away to yet another divisive electoral process, my question to these leaders, where will you be immediately after the 2012 elections, especially if the elections will have been carried out under the current constitution?

Stop distracting us, Kadhis courts are not the problem, we know what Kenya’s problem are!!!!!!

JEFF MAKEKE

NAIROBI