Wed Nov 23, 2005 1:41 AM ET
By Katie Nguyen
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Angelina Adhiambo is too busy trying to feed her family on 50 shillings a day to care about Kenya's rejection of a government-backed constitution.
As city pundits settle in their armchairs to analyze the fallout from this week's vote which handed President Mwai Kibaki a crushing defeat, Adhiambo wonders what all the fuss was about.
A tomato seller from Kibera, she says the millions of shillings poured into the protracted exercise of drafting and promoting a new charter would have been better used to save her from a life of squalor in east Africa's biggest slum.
Critics say the government squandered vast amounts of state funds publishing millions of copies of the proposed charter, chartering helicopters to fly ministers to rallies and inviting various sectors of the community at the president's State House.
"I blame the politicians because here we are sleeping on empty stomachs as they waste money on a constitution the people have rejected," Adhiambo said, washing clothes at her shack.
Like many barely literate slum voters, the mother of six did not read the 197-page document, but relied on political leaders to explain the draft to her.
"There's nothing I can tell you about the constitution," added fish seller Rosie Amondi Orege, turning over silvery pieces of tilapia in a sizzling pan.
"I was following other people's direction."
WAITING FOR MIRACLES
Up to 800,000 of the capital's poorest people live in Kibera, a ramshackle settlement of tin-roof shacks, cobbled together with mud, scrap metal and cardboard.
Adhiambo's despair was echoed by many in Kibera, where piped water and flush toilets are fantasy for most, and barefoot children dart along dirt paths nimbly hopping over trenches clogged with steaming sewage.
"We don't expect the government to feed each and every person, but people need healthcare, education and economic development more than a bad constitution," said Collins Oloo.
The 26 year-old electrician said he felt especially bitter because his name had disappeared from the local voting register -- leaving him unable to take part in the landmark referendum.
Bernard Titus Osawa, 31, also did not vote, saying he preferred to mind his little battery recharging business than shut shop to cast his ballot.
"I need to put something on the table at the end of the day for my children. A new constitution is only for rich people in Kenya," he said.
Asked what his priorities were, he said: "My children's schooling. When it comes to that, I ask God to give me a miracle."
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