By Andrew Cawthorne
Nairobi - Have Kenya's excitable politicians finally gone bananas?
It certainly looks that way as the besuited "Big Men" of Kenyan public life brandish oranges and bananas at rallies, crack fruit jokes, exchange punches at a funeral, and make tasteless threats of an imminent "political Hurricane Katrina".
So why all the hullabaloo? A fight for votes, of course.
| 'Never has so much ridden on the back of a fruit' |
In the nation's biggest political moment since the 2002 ending of President Daniel arap Moi's 24-year rule, Kenyans hold a referendum on November 21 on a new constitution, the first since independence from Britain.
The issues in the proposed 197-page text are weighty: presidential powers, Muslim courts, women's rights, graft. But for many the campaign is shaping into a simple political showdown and precursor of the next election in 2007.
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The government is leading the "Yes" campaign under the symbol of a banana. The opposition - and a party in the ruling coalition - are championing the "No" cause with an orange.
In a common practice by electoral authorities across Africa, where literacy levels are sometimes low, the fruits were chosen as supposedly neutral symbols to help voters know how to vote.
But they have taken on a life of their own as each camp stockpiles its favoured fruit, hands it out at rallies, and debates the relative nutritional value of oranges and bananas. The media are full of references to "banana republics" and "orange revolutions"; farmers are cashing in on the craze; and traditional sayings about each fruit are being trotted out.
| Opponents insist their grievances are genuine |
"Never has so much ridden on the back of a fruit," Daily Nation newspaper columnist Mutuma Mathiu wrote.
Jokes apart, the campaign is a defining moment for President Mwai Kibaki's ruling National Rainbow Coalition (NARC).
NARC won in 2002 on a wave of popular euphoria after the Moi years. But now it faces growing public disillusionment and a split in the coalition, two years before the next election.
Kibaki's coalition partner, the Liberal Democratic Party, has joined Moi's old party, the opposition Kenya African National Union, in campaigning for a "No".
This has crystallised disunity at the heart of government.
Five of Kibaki's cabinet ministers are defying him to go on the "No" campaign trail. One was even overheard daring Kibaki to sack him "if he was man enough."
Finance Minister David Mwiraria, on the "Yes" side, said foes were looking to short-term political gain rather than the long-term interests of 32 million Kenyans living under a constitution dating from 1963.
But opponents insist their grievances are genuine. Their main beef is with the huge powers of the presidency in the draft on which Kenyans are to vote.
Others are with the establishment of Muslim "Kadhi" courts and separate tribunals for other religions; the prohibition of abortion and same-sex marriage; and equal inheritance rights for men and women.
- This article was originally published on page 7 of Cape Times on September 21, 2005
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