Kenya needs to amend its constitution to enable the East African nation to end “senseless cycles of violence” that have plagued elections for the past two decades, President Uhuru Kenyatta said.
The comments are the latest signal the president may call for a referendum on changes to governance structures. A panel picked by Kenyatta and Raila Odinga, his biggest rival in elections in 2017, have proposed reforms to end Kenya's winner-takes-all political system.
The 2010 constitution was drafted in response to the disputed 2007 vote that led to the death of more than 1,100 people, and was meant to decentralize power, create accountable government and share resources more equitably.
This is “not a moment to replace the 2010 constitution, but one to improve on it,” Kenyatta, the son of the nation's first president, said in a speech to mark Independence Day. “A moment that we right what we didn't get correct in 2010.”
The National Assembly is due to consider a proposed law on referendums this month.
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