It has been quite a while since we agreed that a Constitution-writing is not for the rabble. So we established a Committee of Experts chaired by former Law Society of Kenya chairman Nzamba Kitonga.
It has been quietly going about its work, insulating itself from all the political noise. But as it becomes apparent that a draft constitution is about to be unveiled, the decibel count is rising.
All sorts of interest groups that fear the document might nor advance their narrow political, religious or other partisan or sectional interests have started making noise and threatening to scuttle the entire exercise.
We witnessed just the other day, the impolitic exchanges between President Kibaki’s and Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s respective constitutional advisors, Prof Kivutha Kibwana and Mr Miguna Miguna. That seemed to have been a case of the passers-by mourning louder than the bereaved, for we do see the President and the PM getting on rather chummily these days and avoiding divisive public exchanges. Now we are seeing all those Christian fundamentalist groups rising up in advance of publication. They claim that the Committee of Experts wants to impose Islamic courts on secular Kenyans.
