Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has dismissed Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi’s call for a constitutional referendum to be conducted during the 2027 General Election.
Mr Duale now joins former Chief Justice David Maraga and People’s Liberation Party leader Martha Karua in opposing the proposal, which Mr Mudavadi argued could help save time and resolve key unresolved constitutional issues by including referendum questions as a seventh ballot in the General Election.
In a tweet on his official X handle, Mr Duale told Mr Mudavadi, who also serves as the Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Cabinet Secretary, that proposals to address the issues he raised are already before Parliament through the National Dialogue Committee process.
“Calling for a referendum on matters currently under parliamentary consideration may inadvertently undermine these lawful processes and create unnecessary uncertainty,” Mr Duale wrote.
He told Mr Mudavadi that Kenya currently lacks a comprehensive law governing how a referendum should be conducted. And without such a legal framework, a referendum would be premature and potentially disruptive.
On boundary delimitation, Mr Duale said it is acknowledged that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission could not act earlier because it was not properly constituted and the constitutional timeline had lapsed.
Mr Mudavadi came under severe criticism from Mr Maraga, who said the constitutional referendum talk shows that the government ultimately plans to increase President William Ruto’s term in office.
In a statement released by his office on Monday, the presidential hopeful dismissed Mr Mudavadi’s claims that there was a constitutional crisis in the country.
“Let me be unequivocally clear. Kenya does not have a constitutional crisis. We have a crisis of implementation and a deficit of integrity,” he said.
At the same time, Ms Karua said the referendum push was suspicious.
“The call for a referendum is a distraction. Mudavadi, who is calling for a referendum on behalf of President Ruto, is himself holding an office that is unlawful,” Ms Karua said. “Kenyans must not accept constitutional changes by a regime that does not obey the Constitution.”
