WHY KENYANS SHOULD BE WORRIED

[Anthony Gitonga]

I suppose that if Christians would have their own Courts, it would be founded on the Bible, and not some flimsy opinions. And so are Khadhi courts, on the Quran. They are muslim, they are religious, and as the following email contends, they are a part of the infamous Sharia Law!

 

Anthony

From: Francis Kioko <ki...@franktax.com> Subject: [YP_Ke] WHY KENYANS SHOULD BE WORRIED ABOUT THE KADHI'S COURTS? To: youngprofe...@googlegroups.com, "'Africa-Oped'" <afric...@yahoogroups.com> Cc: mlal...@googlegroups.com, missiona...@hotmail.com, "'KENYA ONLINE'" <kenya...@yahoogroups.com> Date: Thursday, 27 May, 2010, 21:37 OPEN your EYES & MINDS Kenyans, RE-THINK your stand on this CONSTITUTION, WHY KENYANS SHOULD BE WORRIED ABOUT THE KADHI’S COURTS? Kadhis courts operate under Sharia Law. Sharia law is also called Muslim or Islamic law. It is based on the Quran and the religion of Islam. It deals with many aspects of life, including crime, politics, economics, banking, business, contracts, family, sexuality and other social issues. Sharia discriminates against women and non-Muslims. Under Sharia law non-Muslims must pay tax called Jizya if they want to live safely in Muslim states, otherwise the state refuses to protect them, even though it protects the Muslim citizens. Under Sharia a non-Muslim is worth half that of a Muslim. ARTICLE 170 OF THE DRAFT CONSTITUTION SAYS;       (2) A person shall not be qualified to be appointed to hold or act in the office of Kadhi unless the person PROFESSES THE MUSLIM RELIGION; (3) Parliament shall establish Kadhi’s courts, each of which shall have jurisdiction and powers conferred on it by legislation, subject to clause (4) (5) No part of the former Protectorate shall be outside the jurisdiction of some Kadhi’s court. (6)The jurisdiction of a Kadhi’s court shall extend to the determination of questions of MUSLIM LAW relating to personal status, marriage, divorce or inheritance in proceedings in which all the parties profess the Muslim religion. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? By talking about Islam and Muslim law in the constitution, it means that the ONLY religion recognized and mentioned in this constitution is ISLAM. It also means that the ONLY religious members of the judiciary and therefore government are Muslims. Interestingly, the ONLY qualification to be a Kadhi is to be a Muslim-a law degree is not necessary. Even more, the ONLY religious courts that are recognized in this constitution are Kadhi’s courts. They are allowed by the draft constitution to operate anywhere in Kenya and can be given more powers according to the draft constitution-we do not know which powers they will be given. Another reason why we feel that the religions are not equal is that Kadhi’s courts are the ONLY religious institutions that receive government funding, yet we are being told, they are supposed to make decisions concerning Muslims only. While established by law, the constitution does not say that they are subject to it.   It is important to remember what all previous versions of the Draft Constitution said. They consistently and categorically stated in ARTICLE 8 “State and religion will be separate,”  ”There will be no state religion” and “All religions will be treated equally”.  The current draft DOES NOT HAVE two very important provisions that clearly separate state and religion and clearly state that all religions are equal. The only statement in the draft constitution is, “There Will Be No State Religion”. The removal of the two important phrases or silence by the draft on these phrases means that in this draft constitution, ALL RELIGIONS ARE NOT EQUAL. And even worse, STATE AND RELIGION ARE NOT SEPARATE.   Our biggest fear is that without knowing, Kenya may be allowing Muslim Law (SHARIAH LAW) to apply all over the country YET STATE AND RELIGION ARE NOT SEPERATE. This gives room for someone to misinterpret and therefore wrongly apply the law in future saying that ISLAM is the official religion of Kenya. We feel that the draft constitution deceives us by only mentioning social issues yet Sharia law always applies to all areas of life. We can only be sure of the future if the constitution clearly treats us and all religions equally and separates state and religion.   Religious wars are the worst kind of wars to be engaged in. Discrimination on the basis of religion and the desire to control are the usual causes. This constitution does just that. IT DISCRIMINATES AGAINST OTHER RELIGIONS IN FAVOUR OF ISLAM   THAT IS WHY THE CONSTITUTION SHOULD NOT MENTION ANY RELIGION   PEACEFULLY VOTE ‘NO'