Nairobi — US ambassador Michael Ranneberger wants all Kenyans to be involved in implementing reforms in the country.

According to Mr Ranneberger, Kenya is at crossroads and has "a historic opportunity", hence must adopt an all-inclusive approach in achieving the desired changes.

He called for "a real effort to build consensus", saying only that would make the committee of experts rewriting the constitution succeed.

The US diplomat was speaking on Thursday when he hosted former beneficiaries of US Department of State scholarships and exchange programmes (State Alumni) for a dinner at his residence.

The US government has been consistently putting pressure on the coalition government to speed up the reforms agreed on in the National Accord which stopped the post-election violence.

The latest move was the visa ban slapped on a senior Kenya government official.

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Mr Johnnie Carson, who announced the ban on Monday, further promised that three more would also be banned as soon as the paperwork was ready.

And on Thursday, the US Department of State recognised Mr Otiende Amollo, one of the experts rewriting the new constitution, for his role in the promotion of human rights and democracy.

Mr Amollo, who was among the State alumni present at the dinner, admitted that rewriting the new laws has not been easy, but ruled out failure, saying that could result in worse possibilities.

Contrary to popular opinion that they are 'making' a new constitution, their "tougher job" is to 'unmake' the current constitution, he added.

"It is so much difficult to 'unmake' a constitution that has been in place for 40 years, than make a new constitution where none existed," he said.

Former secretary of the defunct Kenya Constitution Review Commission Dr PLO Lumumba and Njeri Kabeberi, a lawyer and human rights activist, are some other past beneficiaries of the US programmes.

According to Mr Ranneberger, the United States government sends more than 100 Kenyans to the US on 13 different US Department of State-funded programmes, each year.