Review has weathered many booby traps

By Gakuu Mathenge

The review has come along way since the Constitution of Kenya Review Act was enacted in 1997.

Players keep shifting positions depending on whether they are in or out of Government.

As the clock to the second referendum ticks, it is apparent 2002 political formations are back, with the group that supported the review before 2002, but opposed it once they joined Government in 2003, regrouping on the ‘Yes’ side.

Those opposed to the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission while in Government before 2002, and continued opposing reforms while in opposition after 2003, are still opposed to a new constitutional order, although some are in Government.

From the onset, the process has been rocked with disputes, backstabbing, sabotage, divisions, but somehow still kept surging forward.

The Review Act 1997 envisaged a process driven by the Parliamentary Select Committee, which immediately ran into opposition, with calls for a people-driven process.

The Ufungamano Initiative, bringing together the religious sector, the opposition parties and the civil society threatened to conduct parallel (Peoples’ Review), alongside the official one, if they were left out. Concerned about a process blighted by divisions and controversy, CKRC chairman Yash Pal Ghai, declined to take his oath of office, until the dispute between PSC and Ufungamano was resolved.

Public hearings

In 1998, the Constitution of Kenya Review (Amendment) Act was enacted, with provisions to expand the Ghai Commission to 27 members, to make room for the religious sector and the Civil Society.

Next step was collection and collation of public views, through public hearings and memoranda, and reduction of those views into a draft constitution on how Kenyans wished to be governed.

The draft proceeded for debate and ratification at the National Constitutional Conference of delegates at Bomas of Kenya.

The Constituent Assembly produced the first Draft Constitution on March 15, 2004, otherwise known as the Bomas Draft.

Two-thirds of the delegates approved it, and Ghai felt his job was done.

Ghai resigned as CKRC Chairman in June 2004, saying he had completed his work of helping the country come up with a Draft Constitution, and leaving it to Parliament and the Attorney General to steer the process.

President Kibaki appointed Justice Abida Ali to replace Prof Ghai, in a process that would culminate in the referendum backlash on November 21, 2005.

About 60 per cent of voters rejected the Wako Draft.