POLITICS-KENYA: Draft Constitution Splits the Nation

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Joyce Mulama

NAIROBI, Dec 15 2003 (IPS) - Under Kenya’s current constitution, drafted during the colonial era, the president enjoys extensive powers. To reduce these powers – which have sometimes been abused – some Kenyans have called for the current process of constitutional review to allow for the post of Prime Minister.

But, others disagree.

“There are those around the president who are enjoying power because of their close ties with him. They are opposed to the completion of the constitution review process,” says Njeru Gathangu, chairperson of Citizens for Justice, a Nairobi-based pressure group which has been lobbying for a new constitution.

“Again, there are those who have been vying for the Prime Minister’s post. They, together with their supporters, want talks on the constitution concluded and the draft document adopted,” he adds.

The government announced on Dec. 12 that a new constitution would be put in place by June next year. Initially, the Kenya Constitution Review Commission was given two years from October 2000 to draft a new constitution.

The 629 delegates to the commission who are discussing the draft document in Nairobi, were set to convene on Nov. 17 for a final round of talks on the matter. However, these discussions were postponed to Jan. 2004.

This decision caused an uproar amongst Kenyans who had been hoping for a new constitution by the end of 2003. During elections in December last year, President Mwai Kibaki’s National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) government had promised to introduce a new constitution within a hundred days of coming to power.

The talks were rescheduled by the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Kiraitu Murungi, who claimed that the heavy workload facing parliament would interfere with the review process. Murungi allegedly opposes the creation of a Prime Minister’s post.

The justice minister and the Minister of National Security, Chris Murungaru, also called for the resignation of the chair of the review commission, Yash Pal Ghai. This was on the grounds that last month, he contravened government’s directive to postpone discussions to January next year.

“The refusal by Professor Ghai to respect the decision constitutes a flagrant disrespect and contempt of the leadership of this country. Unless he gives up his rebellion against the government, the constitutional review process will proceed without him,” Murungi warned.

The justice minister has since found himself coming under attack from some of his cabinet colleagues who maintain that he has no right to ask for Ghai’s resignation. They have asked the chairman, who is said to have the backing of most commission delegates, not to give up his position.

For his part, Ghai has dismissed calls for his resignation, describing Murungi’s remarks as “evidence of his arrogant use of power”.

Commission delegates have also warned that any attempt to have their chairperson replaced will scuttle the review process, and lead to civil unrest.

Even with the president’s assurance that a new constitution will be on the books by the middle of next year, some Kenyans are sceptical.

“We had been promised a new constitution (a) hundred days after government’s assumption of power (in Dec. 2002) – and up to now there is nothing. (There) is…no guarantee that, mid next year, a new set of rules will be on the table,” says Reuben Eliuba, a resident of Nairobi.

Religious groups are one of the exceptions to this trend. They say they will trust the government on the matter of constitutional review.

“If it has committed itself to June, then we think it is a commendable thing. If it is just another political statement, we will wait to see,” says Al-Hajj Yussuf Murigu, chairperson of the Kenya chapter of the World Conference on Religion and Peace.