Sunday, October 17, 1999
Nassir: Extend Moi term
By SUNDAY NATION Correspondent
The term of the current Parliament should be extended to allow MPs to
review the Constitution, Cabinet Minister Shariff Nassir proposed yesterday.
Doing so, he said, would allow for a "conclusive" discussion on
the country's laws.
Mr Nassir also called for the scrapping of Inter-Party Parliamentary
Group saying because it had not lived up to its purpose. He said: "Sisi
Kesho tunakwenda kuvunja IPPG na tuanze tena. (""We are going to disband
IPPG and everything will begin afresh".
Speaking during an inspection tour of projects at the National
Youth Service, Yatta, in Machakos district, Mr Nassir said: "There are
only two options left for the Opposition. Either they accept the review
process to go on in Parliament or we move to extend the sitting until when
they are ready."
He dismissed the Social Democratic Party views that the constitutional
review be discussed after President Moi's term is over, saying that it
was the Opposition that asked for the review process.
Mr Nassir said: "Iko mama mwingine anasema ati constitution ibadilishwe
baada ya (President) Moi kuondoka. Aondoke aende wapi?" (There is a
certain lady who wants the constitution to be changed after President Moi
leaves office. Where do they expect him to go?")
He said if the Opposition continued dilly dallying, Kanu would
extend the President's term for 10 years. Mr Nassir said the Opposition
was not serious with the review process following the stance they were
adopting.
He maintained that the President was elected by the people and wrestling
power from him was very difficult, just "like killing a lion".
He wondered why Oposition leaders were only concerned with the
President and not other burning issues affecting the country.
He took issue with the media, and cautioned people not to take seriously
what was published because, "media houses are just there to make money".
He observed that the country could be plunged into chaos if the Opposition
took was the country's leadership.
Yatta MP, Francis Wambua who was present, refused to respond to
the ministers remarks.
Comments\Views
about this article