Nairobi — So, where does Nelson Mandela reckon he'll end up when the moment we all dread comes and he leaves this life?

The great man has a theory which he delights in telling friends: "When I die, I'm going to get up to the gates of heaven, and they're going to say to me, 'Who are you?' And I'll say, 'I'm Madiba.' And they'll say, 'But where do you come from?' And I'll say, ' South Africa.' And they'll say, 'Oh, that Madiba. You've come to the wrong gates. You see the ones down there that are very warm? That's where you have to go.'"

This tale was recounted in a recent newspaper article examining how South Africa will cope when it loses its hero. Mr Mandela is rightly hailed as the glue that holds the rainbow nation together.

But they will be fine when he leaves this life thanks to one of the anti-Apartheid hero's most impressive achievements.

The South African constitution is widely regarded as the most progressive in the world. It was the product of the most contentious negotiations for a new constitution anywhere in the world in the last few decades.

The process would not have come anywhere close to achieving the outcome it did without the extraordinary gifts of Mr Mandela. He had the moral courage to open negotiations with his opponents while he was still a prisoner, in 1985.

He had the confidence to allow senior ANC leaders to drive the talks, only intervening to reassert the broad principles on which there could be no compromise.

Every time negotiations appeared set to collapse Mr Mandela saved the day with a relatively simple formula. He appealed to both sides to accept the legitimacy of their rivals and to see each other as human beings with similar goals in life.

"Historical enemies succeeded in negotiating a peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy," Mr Mandela reflected later, "exactly because we were prepared to accept the inherent capacity for goodness in the other. My wish is that South Africans never give up on the belief in goodness, that they cherish that faith in human beings as a cornerstone of our democracy."

Kenya is at a similar pass as South Africa was three decades ago. The crisis last year exposed the shallowness of the foundation upon which this nation is built.

There is little doubt that the country needs a new constitution. But who will rise from the mire of short-term ethnic interests that characterise debate on the recently released draft constitution and play the role of Mandela in helping edge the nation towards a new order?

President Kibaki is one leader in the political class uniquely positioned to assume this mantle. He alone has no immediate interest in contesting the positions of power that are the greatest subject of contention in the current review round.

If he can take this chance to push Kenyans to see the chance to review the constitution as a long-term project to overhaul the way the nation is governed for the benefit of future generations, Mr Kibaki will rescue his legacy and earn a place as one of the great leaders in Kenya's history.

"We have confronted and successfully dealt with some of the toughest, most intractable challenges of our time - challenges that have left other societies in ashes," crowed one of the ANC leaders who helped negotiate their new constitution.

"We are problem solvers. We are pragmatists. We work by consensus. And we prefer long-term solutions to quick, expedient fixes. But we are still revolutionaries: we want to hand succeeding generations a truly better world."

Many think the chances of Kenya finding a leader who can shepherd them selflessly towards a new constitutional order are as remote as those of Mr Mandela ending up at the gates of hell. But one has to hope.