The Primate of the Anglican Church of Kenya, the Most Rev. Eliud Wabukala has dismissed calls for a national referendum on the government of President Uhuru Kenyatta, noting the new government had been in office for only a year. “Calling for the plebiscite will only derail development because it will put the country in an election mood,” Archbishop Wabukala told reporters. “The opposition should analyse if their stand benefits Kenyans or is only for their individual gain,” he said. The opposition Coalition of Reforms and Democracy (CORD) party led by Raila Odinga has launched a campaign to gather one million signatures to amend the constitution to give greater authority to the country’s state governors at the expense of the national government. President Uhuru has interpreted the referendum push as a threat to his administration. “I want to tell my brother Raila Odinga to respect the Presidency. If he was elected the President, I would not be standing by the roadside to insult him,” President Kenyatta said on July 27. “Kenyans made a choice in 2013 and they chose the Jubilee Government. Those calling for a referendum should save their energy for [the national elections set for] 2017 because it’s not far away,” the president said in Dallas, US during a recent tour.
