Oliver Mathenge and Caroline Rwenji
10 November 2009
Nairobi — The draft constitution will be published on Thursday, triggering a series of activities that will, hopefully, give Kenyans a new set of laws by June next year.
The Committee of Experts told the Parliamentary Reform Caucus of the Thursday date during a meeting in their Delta House offices, Nairobi.
After publication, the public will debate it for 30 days, then the document will be handed over to MPs.
Strain on economy
Debate appears to have started a little early after the Daily Nation exclusively published highlights of the working draft on Tuesday.
During the meeting with MPs, the experts were asked to ensure that they proposed a structure that will not put a strain on the country's economy.
The experts are proposing a devolved government structure where the national government will have a parliament with two chambers -- senate and national assembly. The national assembly will be the centre of power as it will be responsible for the appointment of a prime minister, who will be head of government.
During the 30-day debate period, the public will be allowed to propose amendments to the draft. After the debate period, the experts will have another 21 days within which to incorporate the public's views.
They will then pass the draft on to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitution, which will discuss it and build consensus on contentious issues over a 21-day period.
The PSC will then return the draft to the team of experts with a report of its deliberations and recommendations for revision in light of the consensus achieved.
Approve draft
After 21 days, the team will present the final draft together with its report to the PSC. The PSC must table the report in seven days.
Parliament is given 30 days to approve the draft and forward it to the Attorney General for publication. MPs are allowed to propose amendments and give them to the team of experts to include in the draft.
If Parliament fails to approve the draft constitution, a joint meeting of the PSC, The Reference Group and the experts, will consider the issues and make recommendations.
From this point, Parliament will have no option but to approve the draft constitution within 21 days and submit it to the Attorney General for publication.
The Attorney General, without making any alterations, will publish the Draft Constitution within 30 days of receiving it from Parliament as the experts conduct civic education. Within seven days of publication, the Interim Independent Electoral Commission will declare the referendum date.
After the referendum, the IIEC will declare the results within two days. If the final result of the referendum is in favour of the new constitution, the President will proclaim the new constitution to be law not later than 14 days after the publication of the final result of the referendum.
On Tuesday, women and the minority groups were delighted with the proposals in the draft, saying that it has given priority to people previously ignored.
Assistant minister Aden Sugow (Fafi) and Wajir West MP Adan Keynan said marginalised areas, such as North Eastern Province, will now be able to contribute to national development.
"These regions are unexploited yet they have the potential of producing oil. The infrastructure and other facilities like education have also been neglected," he said.
Mr Keynan also said that the proposed draft will enable all Kenyans participate in national development.
"The document will bind Kenyans together and will also bring order," he said.
Episcopal Bishop Bernard Njoroge accused the experts of wasting time and the country's resources in coming up with something similar to the Bomas draft of 2005.
"It does not make sense for the committee to come up with the very thing that the Bomas Draft proposed. It is a waste of time," said the bishop, who was a member of the Ghai Commission.
The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) cautioned that some sections of the draft law could be potentially divisive.
LSK vice-chairman Aggrey Mwamu said there was need to fine tune the draft law.
Among the potentially divisive areas, he said, were the kadhi courts and the use of the word majimbo which he argued had in the past caused anxiety.
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