from: odhiambo okecth
odhiambo okecth Comrade Tom Kagwe has made my day. If I were Prince Okiya, I would go silently, pray to my God to make me also meet with the light on my way to…is it Busia? Remember what Saul saw?

He became Paul, not the Octopus, but the agent of change and he helped convert so many people into the YES Team.

I would then come back and apologize to the Brethren who I have persecuted in during the time I was under the evil spell. I would urge them to move with me to the Promised Land and come 4th August, we would be crossing River Jordan together with shouts of joy.

Prince Saul Okiya, how I wished you met your Damascus and became Paul Okiya, not Paul the Octopus…

Oto
Having been amongst the first YES Converts.

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From: Millicent Odhiambo

Says who????????

Millicent Odhiambo,
Executive Officer,
Mombasa and Coast Tourist Association
Moi Avenue & Agakhan Road,
P.O. Box 99596(80107),Mombasa,Kenya
Phone : +254.(41) 2225428 |
Mobile: +254. 722475796
Email:modhiambos@yahoo.com / mcta@africaonline.co.ke.
Website: www.kenyacoast.net
THE VOICE OF AUTHORITY FOR KENYA COAST TOURISM

“Look not mournfully into the past, it comes not back again.Wisely improve the present, it is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future without fear and with a manly heart.” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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From: Okiya Omtatah Okoiti

Ndugu Tom,

Thanks for your interesting critique.

I am not fighting to defeat the PCK at the Referendum. If that was the case I would not be in court. All I am saying is that that is not the document anticipated by the existing laws in Kenya.

Further, I seek not a fundamentalist secular state since any form of fundamentalism is anathema to democracy. What I seek is a religiously neutral state that is not hostile to religion, ensures the separation of State and religion, and treats all religions equally – something that we had achieved in all the earlier drafts, including the Harmonised Draft.

God bless.

Omtatah

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From: Tom Kagwe

Omtatah,

I have flipped through what you raise. I cannot have read all articles in one sitting. But I am asking only one question: when you fight to defeat the PCK at the referendum, do you gain anything? What? I have serious problems (on presidential qualification (running both as MP and president) or current judiciary vetting for more than one year for example) but that does not give me a NO vote simple because those problems are not significant to the cause we have stood for. I see your articles about Kadhis courts, abortion, intentional law, etc: these are insignificant. Period.

Second, I agree with you about vetting of judges by parliament is an issue. But the JSC is independent (171) and functional (172) and respects articles 10, 250, and others, it is likely to have a BETTER vetting process than through people’s representatives, who seldom give us wise people. So what actually is your beef??? Should it be just parliament?

I see you say you want a secular state, in one of the articles, but still insists that “The new Constitution must ensure that the strict separation of State and religion does not contain loopholes the likes of KHRC will exploit to discredit religion as a source of public values, or to exclude religious believers and religious reasons from democratic deliberation.” We as KHRC have not stated religion is not a source of values: we have only stated that religion is not ALL values and NO one should be the monopoly of ALL VALUES. Second, most constitutions written in Europe and Africa are Judeo-Christian. It seems that you want to have you cake and eat it. KENYANS, including you, are incapable of accommodating or even writing a secular draft. I know how one looks like, and Kenyans cannot live with that.

I can see though, with respect, you know why you want to vote NO unlike other people in the NO camp. But is I still insist; the arguments in the NO camp are unsustainable to stop this quest: show me something serious and I will vote otherwise. For the moment, nothing much has been said to deride substantial issues that Kenyans have sought for: for decades.

Wish you well, and remember we are still one NATION whether YES or NO wins. LET ME DARE YOU: if YES wins, will you revolt to the new law? Or seek to improve it?

Your guess is as good as mine.

_____
Tom Kagwe, J. P.
Ag. Programmes Coordinator / Dep. Ex. Director
KENYA HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
Opposite Valley Arcade, Gitanga Road,
P.O Box 41079 , 00100 GPO, Nairobi , Kenya .
Tel. +254-020-3874998/9 3876065/6
Fax. +254-020-3874997
Email: admin@khrc.or.ke
Website: http://www.khrc.or.ke