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East African Centre for Law and Justice (EACLJ) - Activity Report for May 2010

By 

ACLJ Staff Writers

June 26, 2011

3 min read

United Nations

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The month of May saw the East Africa Centre for Law and Justice (EACLJ) conduct civic education ahead of the August 2010 referendum on the new constitution in Kenya. The main aim of the civic education was to educate Kenyans on the contents of the draft constitution and empower them to make informed decisions as they cast their votes to make it the law of the land in August.

The EACLJ stands on the No side (those who reject the draft constitution and would not vote for it) because it has contentious issues that were raised by church leaders; and the committee of experts who were tasked with the work of drafting the document chose to ignore the church leaders voices. 

The church is against a clause that, if passed, could easily legalize abortion and another one that includes Islam in the judiciary, which is an arm of the government.  This contradicts the governments stand that all religions shall be treated equally.

The government agrees that the document has flaws and is convincing Kenyans to vote for it and then take it for amendments.  Apart from making it difficult to amend the constitution should it go through, the same members of parliament were unable to amend the draft when the contentious issues were taken to parliament.

It is for this reason that the EACLJ conducts civic education, emphasizing the contentious issues and how they would affect our country in future.

Coverage:

The EACLJ staff and stakeholders covered vast areas in Kenya with civic education. Targeted areas were churches, organized rallies in stadiums, learning institutions and other Community gatherings. In the month in review, we were able to reach a total of 22 towns:  Nakuru, Nairobi, Kiambu, Nyeri, Karatina, Othaya, Ngong, Nanyuki, Isiolo, Limuru, Machakos, Muranga, Mombasa, Githunguri, Kiambu, Embu, Mbeere, Kirinyaga, Kisii, Elburgon, Njoro and Makueni. The team reached thousands of people, including pastors and church leaders, gospel artists, politicians, university students and the community locals.

Activities:

Apart from educating the community on the contents of the draft constitution, the EACLJ staff also sourced and distributed copies of the draft constitution and other IEC (information, education and communication) materials that were produced by them.

Achievements:

  • Our civic education sessions were very interactive and most doubts and questions raised by the participants were satisfactorily answered.
  • Most people who came with the notion of attending the meeting to challenge the speakers were able to be convinced that the draft document has flaws. Many people leave the sessions satisfied and more informed on the contents of the constitution.
  • In collaboration with our partners who are National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK), we managed to train 12 volunteers who helped enable us to cover vast areas with civic education ahead of the August 4th referendum.
  • Many church leaders have confidence in the EACLJ and have been allowing the EACLJ staff to use their pulpits to give civic education.

Challenges:

  • The challenges we experienced were that so many people are translating the constitution with their own interests, leaving the common Kenyan confused.
  • The committee of experts who has been tasked with the duty of conducting civic education in a neutral manner is already aligned with the camp that is voting in favor of the constitution.
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