In November, Kenyans were asked to vote on a constitution that would have given extensive powers to the President. President Mwai Kibaki's draft was rejected its content and partly as a vote of no confidence in the government. VERONICA FAGAN explains. The rejected draft constitution resulted from a butchering of a previous draft, the Bomas constitution, which in Constitutional Conterence in 2002-3 - and gave more power to the Prime Minister and decentralised power in the
Kibaki had been elected as President of Kenya December 2002 to replace the corrupt Daniel arap Moi who by 57 per cent of voters, partly because of had ruled the country for 24 years. But if Kenyans thought that a new President would mean real change in their circumstances, they were sadly mistaken.
Kibaki had served under Kenya's first President Jomo Kenyatta after independence in 1963 and then as Moi's vice-president.
When the ban on political parties was lifted in 1991 he moved into opposition and founded the Democratic Party, which he still leads, and was twice defeated by Moi as a Presidential candidate.
For the 2002 election he put together a broad based coalition, the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc). Moi was constitutionally barred from standing again and nominated Uhuru Kenyatta, Jomo's son, as his successor.
But the victorious Kibaki, who won 61 per cent of the vote, has proved in fact to be a carbon copy of his predecesSOIL
Like Moi he has played on tribalism, surrounding himself with members of his Kikuyu ethnic group.
The Kikuyu are the largest ethnic group in the country and make up 22 per cent of the population. Tribal conflicts have plagued the especially in 1992, where 2000 died in the west of the country and to a lesser extent in 2001.
With over million Kenyans facing starvation, the President is planning to build himself a lavish palace at the people's expense - to the tune of Ksh 1000 million (£800,000). He has been roundly criticised at home ana abroad lor nis lallure lo act in the current tamine in the north of the country. Teachers
Moi promised teachers, who live on starvation wages, a rise in 1998, which they were not paid. Kibaki bought their votes by promising that they would be paid after the election - but of course this hasn't happened.
The campaign over the referendum saw the development of the Orange Democratic movement,