Nairobi — Kenya may settle for a weaker presidential system of government if remarks by the Committee of Experts rewriting the country's Constitution are anything to go by.

Speaking in Nairobi on Thursday during a meeting called to discuss contentious issues in the draft law, chairman Nzamba Kitonga said Kenyans had expressed a desire to have a system that accommodated the position of a prime minister, whose party must have the majority of MPs in Parliament.

If implemented, such a system would result in a hybrid system of governance in which some of the powers vested on the president are transferred to the prime minister, but which still leans more on the presidency in terms of executive authority.

Mr Kitonga said Kenyans were in favour of a president with limited powers, and that most of the groups the committee had held discussions with had advocated for mechanisms to check the excesses of the presidency.

"They are all agreed that they do not want an imperial presidency," he said, adding that an elaborate system of checks and balances was being explored for whatever system of governance the new Constitution finally settled for.

Committee member Dr Chaloka Beyani said Kenyans still wanted to elect the president directly despite the push to have the office bearer's powers trimmed, adding that the challenge would be how to distribute authority between the two offices evenly.

He said the hybrid system of government had been shunned by many countries because of the tag of 'Ceremonial President' attached to the elected leader.

"However," he said, "there is no such thing as a ceremonial president. This is a term that has been coined and employed for political reasons."

The country remains polarised over the presidential or parliamentary systems of governance, with politicians saying the push for either was a PNU versus ODM affair.