Kenyan President dismisses entire Cabinet

President Mwai Kibaki dismissed his entire Cabinet on Wednesday, a day after Kenyans rejected a constitution he had backed, and said he would announce a new Kenyan government within two weeks.

The referendum Tuesday dealt a blow to Kibaki's government two years before the next presidential race. About 57 percent of voters rejected the referendum, which critics had said gave Kenyans a chance to express their opinion about Kibaki's rule, while 43 percent supported the draft charter, according to Electoral Commission Chairman Samuel Kivuitu.

Kibaki made the announcement on state-owned television. "Following the results of the Referendum, it has become necessary for me, as the President of the Republic, to re-organize my Government to make it more cohesive and better able to serve the people of Kenya," Kibaki said.

Kenyans rejected the proposed constitution by 57 to 43 percent, Samuel Kivuitu, chairman of the Electoral Commission of Kenya, said Tuesday. The current constitution will remain in force.

The referendum was cast by Kibaki's critics as a chance for voters to express their opinion of the president two years ahead of the next presidential race.

Kenya's current constitution, drawn up in the lead-up to Kenya's 1963 independence from Britain, has been revised several times to create a strong unitary state in which the president has sweeping powers, the AP reports.

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