By Kilemi Mwiria

For the last 20 years we have sung a very expensive new constitution song. The initial obstacle was single party dictatorship and later vested personal ambitions masked under the guise of community and religious interests.

Without even reading the draft, the same vested interests are still trying to poison unsuspecting Kenyans. The contentious issues remain more or less the same as in 2005, namely; the Executive, Legislature, devolution and Kadhi courts. Although the committee of experts has done a lot to strike a compromise, much remains to be done.

We need early consensus to steer clear of past wrangles. I see more hope than I did in 2005. First, the referendum contest of 2005 was doomed from the word go. The post of Prime Minister, promised in a verbal MoU in 2002, was not delivered. If it had, there would not have been such intense divisions at Bomas.

Kenyans have little to show for going to polls every five years.

Not surprisingly, the various drafts that formed the basis of discussion thereafter revolved around partisan interests personalised around Kibaki and Raila. A new constitution cannot be achieved under a poisoned political environment. Compromise must be realised early if we are to have one by 2010.

Second, this draft attempts to synchronise views of the political camps of 2003-2007. To depoliticise the process, harmonisation was entrusted to a team of experts identified by the competing camps of 2005 and 2007. Third, the events of 2007 and after have not helped to give Kenyans much faith in us politicians to pay serious attention to our war cries this time around. Similarly, many religious leaders intensely divided Kenyans along ethnic lines in 2005 and 2007. Convincing most Kenyans to take them seriously again will be difficult.

Fourth, unlike the Narc coalition which split almost as soon as it was crafted, the current one is likely to hold until 2012, mainly because of selfish instincts of those occupying powerful positions. Symbolic of most politicians, the potential fallout that could come with instability in government will be too much for some to take. At a recent baraza, a minister openly confessed how he prays the coalition holds so he can remain minister to 2012; great motivation!

Even better, some of the adversaries of 2005 and 2007 are getting along quite well. Consider this: The Vice-President, Prime Minister, the two deputy prime ministers and the Justice minister were fire breathing Orange men in the 2005 referendum.

They are now in partnership with a PNU President. Both the Vice-President and Justice minister freely opted to work with a PNU President they bitterly despised in 2005 and 2007. Now the Justice minister who led the rejection of the Wako Draft has to oversee implementation of the current draft.

If adversaries of old are in agreement now, what will Kenyans think of them; that they have lost it or that they had no quarrel in the first place except on who personally wielded power? Nevertheless, Kibaki and Raila should use their evident camaraderie to marshal support of MPs in their respective camps to support a mutually agreed upon draft. Before such an agreement is reached, we politicians should keep our extreme views to ourselves until it is our turn to share them in Parliament.

Non-politicians (civil society, the private sector, the youth, and professional associations) should be more active and desist from assuming the ethnic positions most took in 2005. Media owners also have to rein in reckless journalism, some of which could easily set this country on fire if given the chance. A refined draft has to be viewed in tandem with the boundary review commission report.

And whatever type of government we choose has to reflect fairness in constituency representation to stem future conflicts around the sharing of the national cake. The constitution is for all Kenyans; the living and mostly those yet to be born.