Youth urge calm in new law poll

Hundreds of youth Monday held a peaceful demonstration in Mombasa, urging their colleagues to resist being used by politicians to cause violence.

The youth held placards advocating peace during the constitutional referendum, which is expected soon.

The demonstrators, who were drawn from different institutions in Coast Province, marched from the Mombasa district commissioner’s offices to Mombasa Stadium in Tononoka, where they held a rally to pass the massage.

Led by Kenya Community Support Centre programmes coordinator Phyllis Muema, the group challenged other youth not to be used by politicians to cause violence as the country prepares to get the new constitution.

“Youth from different institutions in Coast Province have gathered in Mombasa today (Monday) to kick off a campaign that will be held in different areas of the country to ask youth to shun violence,” said Ms Muema.

The demonstration comes at a time when the world marks World Tolerance Day to promote justice and peace in the world.

As the draft constitution is unveiled today, a section of youth leaders in Coast Province have already identified with the document.

They have vowed to rally more youth to support it.

The group, under the Coast Youth Leaders Network (Coyolen), said 30 per cent of the content of the new constitution favours Coast residents, who have been marginalised for decades.

Speaking at Nation offices on Monday, Coyolen coordinator Dimka Matano urged Coast MPs to shelve debate on secession and direct their energies on educating residents on the draft constitution.

“We call upon Coast MPs and civil society groups to shelve the secession debate and instead focus on the new constitution for the betterment of the residents’s lives,” he said.

Mr Matano took issue with a section of Central Province MPs who vowed to shoot down the document if the Independent Boundary Review Commission does not yield to the one man, one vote demand.

He said the one man, one vote principle would reflect another form of marginalisation which the minority population in the country have suffered for decades.

Mr Matano noted that the review should be conducted in a manner that does not overlook the interest of all Kenyans, especially minority citizens. He said leaders were beneficiaries of the current Constitution, which has deprived other citizens of their basic rights.

A Coyolen member, Mr Daniel Kenga Mangi, said the proposed devolved government, where there will be two chambers – the Senate and National Assembly, would end marginalisation in some parts of the country, notably Coast and North Eastern provinces.