By Our Reporter

A national referendum to change the Constitution is now a matter of when, not if, as key political parties and leaders in the country have started working on a rare unity pact that analysts say will form the basis of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s succession politics.

President Kenyatta’s wing in Jubilee Party, Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement, Kalonzo Musyoka’s Wiper Democratic Movement, Musalia Mudavadi’s Amani National Congress, Moses Wetang’ula’s Ford-Kenya, and Gideon Moi’s Kanu are already reading from the same script and are pledging support for the Building Bridges Initiative, which many see as the vehicle to the referendum.

A united front bringing together these key political parties could start a wave that eventually installs a leader at State House in 2022.
The clearest indication yet of how the referendum question could read was revealed last week when women leaders under the Embrace movement, a pillar in the Kieleweke formation of the President Kenyatta-aligned Jubilee camp, said the Executive needs to be expanded to include the position of a prime minister and two deputies.

Leaders with insider information on the plans to change the Constitution told the Nation that six parties, among them Jubilee and ODM, are plotting to use the huge following they enjoy in the country to marshal support for the referendum, expected early next year.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir has expressed disappointment with the global community for isolating his administration, claiming the young nation has been written off.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir

“I know that many in the world community have written us off and there are many out there who believe that the situation in South Sudan will never get any better. We have a simple message for them, South Sudan shall rise once again and it shall be triumphant against all the odds”, he said in a Christmas message to the nation.

The South Sudan leader said he was optimistic the war-torn nation would come out of the situation to which it has been thrown into after the 2013 political differences within the leadership of the governing Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) over pushes for internal reforms and democratic processes-turned violent.

“Let the skeptics be reminded that the proclamation of South Sudan’s independence on July 9, 2011 was perceived as a mission impossible and yet you the people of South Sudan succeeded to make it possible,” said the South Sudanese leader.

He further added, “Therefore if you could accomplish such a feat, why would anyone question your ability to recover from the present predicament? This country shall emerge stronger, united and prosperous and we shall be the envy of the world”.

According to Kiir, the national dialogue he and his administration initiated as the only way to resolve differences would go down in the history books as the turning point when South Sudan regains peace.

“Peace and prosperity are within our reach and I challenge all of you to unite and work together to return the good days of South Sudan,” he stressed.

The clashes come barely a month after Kiir announced a national dialogue involving a bottom-top approach to address local grievances and political issues affecting the country. He formed a committee to lead the dialogue, a move critics say could derail the process.