TONS OF MONEY ON YES/NO CAMPAIGNS

US anti-abortion activists have upped their attack on Kenya’s proposed constitution, saying the Obama administration was illegally spending at least $10 million (Sh790 million) in support of the Yes vote in the August 4 referendum.

Congressman Chris Smith, the top Republican on the House subcommittee on Africa, said US Agency for International Development investigators recently supplied the $10 million estimate.

“This massive spending will undoubtedly be directed to those entities pressing for the ratification of the draft,” Mr Smith said.

The funds were being spent illegally, the Congress members suggested, citing a provision in the US law known as the Siljander Amendment, that prohibits the use of federal funds to lobby for or against abortion.

Along with US-based anti-abortion NGOs, the activists contend that the draft constitution would make it easy for Kenyan women to obtain abortion.

They further argue that the President Obama administration is urging Kenyans to vote Yes, and cite an April 7 statement made recently by US ambassador Michael Ranneberger in which he said: “Unity in support of the draft will bring the Kenyan people together and establish a framework for democratic stability and shared prosperity.”

A State Department official told the Saturday Nation that the US was not taking sides in the constitution campaign.

At the same time, a US anti-abortion group has acknowledged spending “tens of thousands of dollars” in support of the No campaign.