Nairobi — Hate-speech mongers, blamed largely for last year's deadly post-election violence, will be major targets of the proposed new constitution should it be adopted.

The draft is making one of the boldest attempts yet at reining in people who preach ethnic-based animosity. It seeks to put the inciters under check by gagging them from making statements that can lead to a fall-out among communities, thereby threatening peace.

Although the draft makes it clear that people shall enjoy immense freedom of expression, it adds a rider that there will be no room for advocates of hatred. The Harmonised Draft Constitution of Kenya lists "ethnic incitement and vilification of others" as some of the acts that ought to be disallowed.

It also names "incitement to cause harm" as another obstacle to freedom of speech. The document also states that people spreading propaganda of war and incitement to disobedience will be acting against the law. The provisions, made by the Committee of Experts, are not contained in the current Constitution, but were captured in the recently passed Political Parties Act.

During last year's post-election violence, 1,133 people were killed while more than 350,000 others were displaced from their homes. The Commission of Inquiry into the Post-Election Violence, headed by Court of Appeal judge Philip Waki, found out that some prominent personalities fanned the chaos by inciting communities against each other.

The team said there were reports of circulation of malicious and alarming mobile phone text messages. "This had the effect of poisoning an already tense political environment," the report said. The statements, said the report, revolved around the individual political actors and their affiliate political parties.

The commission received information that religious leaders in certain areas used the pulpit to convey messages amounting to hate speech against some communities. The leaders uttered phrases such as "enough is enough", suggesting that their communities should no longer stand by while attacks against them continued unabated, the report said, quoting the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.

But the draft constitution currently being debated by the public seeks to put an end to such hate mongering. It states: "In the exercise of the freedom of expression, every person shall respect the rights and reputation of others." The draft also leaves the door open for academic freedom and freedom of scientific research.

If it is adopted, the new constitution will outlaw policies like the ones that led to the self exile of renown Kenyan scholar Ali Mazrui after they were denied freedom to work and address public gatherings in Kenya. The document also gives hope for nursery school children who will now have a right to study free of charge as soon as the proposed law is in place.

It will be an offence for any parent or guardian to keep a child out of kindergarten. The draft constitution says studying in nursery and primary schools will be compulsory for all children of school going age.

Currently, only learning in primary school is free, a programme, which caters for 8.6 million children. The proposed document also seeks to guarantee progress to the higher levels of education, proposing that authorities come up with measures that would make secondary and post-secondary education accessible.

Since last year, the government has been running a pseudo-free secondary education programme, where it provides only free day school learning. It means students in boarding schools pay for their upkeep. The document also gives freedom to religious communities to establish and run educational institutions.