Godfrey Mutizwa
Nairobi - Kenyans marked 36 years of independence on Sunday sharply divided over calls for change in the country's constitution.
President Daniel arap Moi led scaled-down celebrations at an open-air stadium before an estimated 15 000 people but pointedly made no mention of a heated debate on constitutional reforms.
The elaborate marchpast by the armed forces, police and paramilitary units of earlier years was replaced by a briefer affair and a fly-past by jets of the Kenya Air Force.
In his address, Moi dismissed newspaper reports last week of a planned mutiny by sections of the army and police protesting poor working conditions. This was "careless talk" by people outside the armed forces and the gutter press, he said.
Three kilometres from the official ceremony, 26 members of parliament - rebels of the ruling KANU party and opposition members - staged a rival rally that attracted about 3 000 people, witnesses said.
"We fought for independence. We must continue to fight to retain it," Mwai Kibaki, leader of the official opposition, told Reuters. Some of the marchers chanted: "Moi must go".
Scuffles broke out when a group of KANU youth-wingers attacked part of the crowd, sending some spectators running. But the rally continued after police restored order by firing a tear gas canister.
The government had earlier announced that the rally had been banned, citing public security. But it began wih no obvious police presence, and police did not interfere with a 2km march by the MPs from Nairobi's Roman Catholic Cathedral to the Kamukunji grounds.
The scale of division among Kenya's opposition parties was demonstrated when National Development Party leader Raila Odinga chose to join the official celebrations instead of the protest rally, saying a national day should not be used for partisan politics.
The opposition wants the constitution reviewed not only to further limit the powers of the president but also to explicitly limit presidential terms to two and redefine the role of the opposition in parliament.
But there are sharp differences over how reforms should be brought about.
Some opposition parties, clerics and pressure groups, fearing dominance by KANU, demand that the process be driven from outside parliament. But KANU says parliamentarians, as people's representatives, should lead the process.
To celebrate the last independence day this millennium, Moi announced the release of 13 000 prisoners and said he wanted to bequeath a united and prosperous nation when he retires. He has said in the past he will not seek re-election after 2002.
A World Bank team was due in the country on December 16, he said, expressing hope that this would lead to substantive dialogue with the International Monetary Fund which has cut its aid to Kenya.
Earlier this year Moi appointed a team of technocrats led by renowned palaeontologist Richard Leakey, and cut his cabinet by half in a bid to win back IMF and other donor support.
The IMF suspended a $205 million loan package to Kenya in 1997 to protest official corruption and poor public management, precipitating an economic crisis that has cut growth to below two percent in the past year. The economy had grown by 4.6 percent in 1996 and 4.8 percent in 1995.
In his speech on Sunday Moi said Kenya - which together with Tanzania and Uganda last month relaunched the East African Community - should become the financial and commercial hub of the region by fully utilising its land resources. - Reuters