KENYA: Kenya's new constitution passed a major hurdle yesterday when, after years of intrigue, tribal politicking and a murky assassination, the final draft was signed off by a national conference.
The draft document is seen as a key step in ending the personalised and corrupt system of rule that characterised the 24-year rule of President Daniel arap Moi, which ended in 2002.
However, it must first survive a court challenge by three delegates who claim their views have not been represented, which has delayed ratification by parliament.
The case is one of the last possible obstacles to the three-year process, which has been repeatedly slowed as it passed from grassroots consultation to an often-chaotic 629-member national conference.
The final product was a "very good constitution" although its drafting was threatened by "powerful state officials bent on scuttling the process," said Prof Yash Pal Ghai, the respected international legal scholar who stewarded the constitutional review.
"It was wonderful to get ordinary people's views in their home areas. But when the politicians got in on the act they ruined the process. I have a deep resentment about that," he said as he cleared his office yesterday.
The central feature of the new constitution is the creation of a powerful prime minister to dilute the vast powers that accumulated in the presidency under Mr Moi. Under his rule Kenya became afflicted by endemic corruption, judicial abuses and a toothless parliament, resulting in political abuses and widespread poverty.
President Mwai Kibaki, who swept to power on a wave of public euphoria in late 2002, promised to reinvigorate the constitutional review. But the process quickly became bogged down in arguments between rival elements of his ruling NARC coalition.
A powerful coterie of Kibaki supporters, led by the Justice Minister, Mr Kiraitu Murungi, campaigned to retain the powerful presidency. Another group, led by another minister, Mr Raila Odinga, pushed for a strong prime minister.
The bitter dispute had a strong tribal undercurrent. Mr Kibaki's supporters are mostly Kikuyu, while Mr Odinga is seen as torchbearer for the Luo tribe.
The constitutional conference, theoretically non-party political, became a forum for ugly mud-slinging, often accompanied by allegations of skulduggery and bribe-taking.
The process fell into chaos last September, when a review official, Prof Odhiambo Mbai, was murdered at his Nairobi home, in what colleagues claimed was a political assassination.
The pro-Kibaki group has lost the argument, at least for now. Last week delegates rejected a watered-down version of the constitution, prompting a walk-out by several cabinet ministers, and the original draft was passed.
"This is people power," said the mayor of Kisumu, Mr Shakeel Shabrir Ahmed, yesterday. "From now on money will no longer be a tool [of governance\]."
The government "doesn't want the constitution to survive," said Prof Ghai, but "it has resonated with the people and the MPs realise that."